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.
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In 2025, fire departments serving Marco Island responded to 120 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $250K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 71% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
712 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $2.5M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 133 | — | |
| 2022 | 239 | +79.7% | |
| 2023 | 161 | -32.6% | |
| 2024* | 59 | — | |
| 2025 | 120 | — |
* Well below Marco Island's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 13 building fires Marco Island departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 93 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 | Undetermined | 19 | 20.4% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 8 | 8.6% | |
| 3 | Other | 7 | 7.5% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 7 | 7.5% | |
| 5 | Equipment or service area, other | 5 | 5.4% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 5 | 5.4% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 5 | 5.4% | |
| 8 | Cooking area, kitchen | 4 | 4.3% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 4 | 4.3% | |
| 10 | Wall assembly | 3 | 3.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 26 | 28.0% |
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 Marco Island mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 37 | 39.8% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 19 | 20.4% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 13 | 14.0% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 5 | 5.4% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 4 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 8 | Chemical reaction | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 1.1% | |
| 10 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 1.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 6 | 6.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Marco Island departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Marco Island sits above 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 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 480,291 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Natural | 63,599 | 49.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 62,404 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 38,131 | 39.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Natural | 29,112 | 29.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Smoking | 26,371 | 29.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Recreation and ceremony | 24,315 | 33.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 22,488 | 37.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 21,963 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2013 | Arson/incendiarism | 20,300 | 28.2 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 18,027 | 15.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 17,000 | 9.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 16,500 | 14.6 mi |
Top 2 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 Marco Island. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Marco Island.
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.