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 Mulberry responded to 182 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 86% of all calls.
May peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,003 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $4.2M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 141 | — | |
| 2022 | 257 | +82.3% | |
| 2023 | 186 | -27.6% | |
| 2024 | 237 | +27.4% | |
| 2025 | 182 | -23.2% |
For the 19 building fires Mulberry departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 435 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 127 | 29.2% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 89 | 20.5% | |
| 3 | Wildland, woods | 41 | 9.4% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 28 | 6.4% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 18 | 4.1% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 16 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Railroad right of way: on or near | 14 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 9 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 8 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 8 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 77 | 17.7% |
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 Mulberry mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 215 | 49.4% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 40 | 9.2% | |
| 3 | Lightning | 36 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 18 | 4.1% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 14 | 3.2% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 13 | 3.0% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 12 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 11 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 10 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 8 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 58 | 13.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Mulberry departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 92% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $90,000 | Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $45,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $35,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Mulberry sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
14 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 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 76,991 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 10,119 | 24.4 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8,800 | 48.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 5,964 | 39.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 4,200 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,407 | 35.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,250 | 48.4 mi | |
| 2007 | Recreation and ceremony | 3,200 | 41.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 3,000 | 24.7 mi | |
| 1998 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 3,000 | 43.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Equipment and vehicle use | 2,507 | 33.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 2,500 | 14.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,300 | 42.7 mi |
Top 10 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 Mulberry. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.