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 Okeechobee responded to 415 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $400K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Natural vegetation fire, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 55% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,650 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $9.0M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 597 | — | |
| 2022 | 668 | +11.9% | |
| 2023 | 488 | -26.9% | |
| 2024 | 482 | -1.2% | |
| 2025 | 415 | -13.9% |
For the 16 building fires Okeechobee departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 1,022 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 | 254 | 24.9% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 168 | 16.4% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 123 | 12.0% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 88 | 8.6% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 76 | 7.4% | |
| 6 | Other | 53 | 5.2% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 51 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 36 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 16 | 1.6% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 14 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 143 | 14.0% |
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 Okeechobee mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 432 | 42.3% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 93 | 9.1% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 81 | 7.9% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 79 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Lightning | 54 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 33 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 26 | 2.5% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 22 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 21 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 21 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 160 | 15.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Okeechobee departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 71% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $400,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $340,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $225,200 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $200,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $155,836 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $80,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $75,000 | Water vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Okeechobee sits above 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 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 267,628 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 43,561 | 28.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 38,100 | 31.9 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 38,000 | 30.9 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 23,250 | 9.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 17,000 | 28.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 13,000 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8,800 | 36.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 8,500 | 15.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 7,000 | 30.9 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 6,981 | 48.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Equipment and vehicle use | 6,000 | 27.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 5,964 | 49.5 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 Okeechobee. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Okeechobee.
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.