Two Lithium-Ion Battery Fires in Three Weeks Destroy Homes in Pasco County, Florida
Battery fires in Zephyrhills and New Port Richey destroyed two homes, killed a dog and displaced six people between Aug. 31 and Sept. 18.
FL
In 2025, fire departments serving Maitland responded to 99 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $180K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 61% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
719 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $5.5M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 107 | — | |
| 2022 | 197 | +84.1% | |
| 2023 | 162 | -17.8% | |
| 2024 | 154 | -4.9% | |
| 2025 | 99 | -35.7% |
For the 7 building fires Maitland departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 109 building fires investigators classified across 2021–2025. The room or location where ignition occurred — kitchens, bedrooms, exterior, vehicle areas — tells you where to focus prevention.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 22 | 20.2% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 14 | 12.8% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 13 | 11.9% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 12 | 11.0% | |
| 5 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 4 | 3.7% | |
| 6 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 4 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 4 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Other | 3 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 3 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 26 | 23.9% |
NFIRS Heat Source (HEAT_SOURC) — the physical thing that started it. Spark or ember from operating equipment, an open flame, smoking materials, or hot embers from a fireplace are the leading culprits nationwide. Here's the Maitland mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 48 | 44.0% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 18 | 16.5% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 9 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 8 | 7.3% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 7 | 6.4% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 2.8% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 1.8% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 1.8% | |
| 9 | Lightning | 2 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 2 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 8 | 7.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Maitland departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $180,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $8,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $5,000 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Chimney or flue fire, confined to chimney or flue | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $4,000 | Trash or rubbish fire, contained | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $2,000 | Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Maitland sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
5 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 211,474 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Natural | 39,000 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 17,000 | 25.6 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 13,600 | 38.6 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 10,560 | 36.6 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 10,240 | 27.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 10,119 | 38.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Recreation and ceremony | 10,022 | 43.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 9,000 | 41.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7,500 | 10.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Recreation and ceremony | 7,302 | 27.1 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 7,000 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 6,575 | 46.3 mi |
Top 8 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Florida cities with population within ±25% of Maitland. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Maitland.
A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.
Numbers reflect incidents reported by participating fire departments to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) Public Data Release for calendar year 2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Per-capita comparisons use 2023 ACS population estimates. Wildland fire data complements NFIRS with NIFC and USFS perimeters. Active-fire counts come from a dated NIFC snapshot, not a live feed.