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 Oakland responded to 26 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 65% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
116 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $73K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 10 | — | |
| 2022 | 15 | — | |
| 2023 | 22 | +46.7% | |
| 2024 | 43 | +95.5% | |
| 2025 | 26 | -39.5% |
* Well below Oakland'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 0 building fires Oakland departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 40 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 | 10 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 4 | 10.0% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 4 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 4 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 10.0% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 5.0% | |
| 9 | Other | 1 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Storage area, other | 1 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 6 | 15.0% |
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 Oakland mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 17 | 42.5% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 5 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Heat, spark from friction | 3 | 7.5% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 2 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 2.5% | |
| 8 | Arcing | 1 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 1 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 1 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 3 | 7.5% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Oakland sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 139,232 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 17,000 | 42.5 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 10,560 | 42.3 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 10,240 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 10,119 | 25.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Recreation and ceremony | 10,022 | 44.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7,500 | 13.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Recreation and ceremony | 7,302 | 42.5 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 6,420 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 5,420 | 37.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 5,304 | 48.9 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 5,000 | 39.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 4,500 | 40.4 mi |
Top 4 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 Oakland. 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.