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 North Lauderdale responded to 118 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500K 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 54% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
579 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $4.0M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 23 | — | |
| 2022 | 140 | — | |
| 2023 | 167 | +19.3% | |
| 2024 | 131 | -21.6% | |
| 2025 | 118 | -9.9% |
* Well below North Lauderdale'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 19 building fires North Lauderdale departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 144 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 | 36 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 17 | 11.8% | |
| 3 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 12 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 12 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 8 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 6 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 6 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Outside area, other | 6 | 4.2% | |
| 9 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 4 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Other | 3 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 34 | 23.6% |
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 North Lauderdale mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 58 | 40.3% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 17 | 11.8% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 13 | 9.0% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 9 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 9 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 6 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 4 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 4 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Lightning | 4 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 3 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 17 | 11.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by North Lauderdale departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 98% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $7,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $5,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. North Lauderdale sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
10 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 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 4 | |
| 30-39 | 4 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 950,037 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 158,000 | 33.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 68,295 | 32.2 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 63,599 | 46.4 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 62,404 | 44.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 57,000 | 23.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 49,500 | 22.4 mi | |
| 2019 | Natural | 42,000 | 26.8 mi | |
| 1997 | Equipment and vehicle use | 41,000 | 26.9 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 39,465 | 49.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Equipment and vehicle use | 39,000 | 30.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 29,937 | 30.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 29,250 | 37.4 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 North Lauderdale. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in North Lauderdale.
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.