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 New Port Richey responded to 429 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.6M 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 60% of all calls.
May peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
3,572 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $17.9M cumulative property loss. 5 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 696 | — | |
| 2022 | 746 | +7.2% | |
| 2023 | 748 | +0.3% | |
| 2024 | 953 | +27.4% | |
| 2025 | 429 | -55.0% |
For the 27 building fires New Port Richey departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 826 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 | 97 | 11.7% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 89 | 10.8% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 80 | 9.7% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 65 | 7.9% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 65 | 7.9% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 55 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 53 | 6.4% | |
| 8 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 28 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 22 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 22 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 250 | 30.3% |
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 New Port Richey mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 290 | 35.1% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 72 | 8.7% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 71 | 8.6% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 54 | 6.5% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 48 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 35 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 31 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Radiated heat from another fire | 28 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 27 | 3.3% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 24 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 146 | 17.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by New Port Richey departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 91% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,600,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $1,600,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $1,600,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 6 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $70,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. New Port Richey sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
38 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 | 2 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 33,439 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Natural | 3,000 | 38.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,275 | 5.9 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,189 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,000 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 2,000 | 18.0 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,939 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,775 | 46.5 mi | |
| 1997 | Natural | 1,700 | 39.4 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 1,700 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,700 | 48.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Natural | 1,427 | 23.1 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 1,287 | 10.8 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 New Port Richey. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in New Port Richey.
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.