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 Mount Dora responded to 140 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $25K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 41% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
950 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $2.7M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 181 | — | |
| 2022 | 200 | +10.5% | |
| 2023 | 172 | -14.0% | |
| 2024 | 257 | +49.4% | |
| 2025 | 140 | -45.5% |
For the 14 building fires Mount Dora departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 340 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 | Outside area, other | 54 | 15.9% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 39 | 11.5% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 36 | 10.6% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 30 | 8.8% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 27 | 7.9% | |
| 6 | Undetermined | 27 | 7.9% | |
| 7 | Other | 17 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 17 | 5.0% | |
| 9 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 11 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 6 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 76 | 22.4% |
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 Mount Dora mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 154 | 45.3% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 29 | 8.5% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 21 | 6.2% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 21 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 20 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 13 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 13 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 10 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Lightning | 9 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 6 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 44 | 12.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Mount Dora departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 89% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $9,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $6,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Mount Dora sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
20 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 | 3 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 9 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 3 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 193,246 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 | 40.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 17,000 | 40.8 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 13,600 | 39.5 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 10,560 | 25.0 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 10,240 | 34.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 10,119 | 42.8 mi | |
| 2009 | Recreation and ceremony | 10,022 | 26.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7,500 | 25.2 mi | |
| 2017 | Recreation and ceremony | 7,302 | 46.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 6,575 | 42.6 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 6,420 | 37.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 5,420 | 22.0 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 Mount Dora. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Mount Dora.
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.