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 Oviedo responded to 223 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $900K building blaze. 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 38% of all calls.
May peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,296 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $4.9M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 205 | — | |
| 2022 | 315 | +53.7% | |
| 2023 | 298 | -5.4% | |
| 2024 | 255 | -14.4% | |
| 2025 | 223 | -12.5% |
For the 11 building fires Oviedo departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 181 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 | 38 | 21.0% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 29 | 16.0% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 19 | 10.5% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 11 | 6.1% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 10 | 5.5% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 7 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 6 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 6 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Other | 4 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 4 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 47 | 26.0% |
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 Oviedo mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 44 | 24.3% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 42 | 23.2% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 19 | 10.5% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 16 | 8.8% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 12 | 6.6% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 11 | 6.1% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 2.2% | |
| 8 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 4 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Backfire from internal combustion engine | 3 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 23 | 12.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Oviedo departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 92% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $900,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $273,600 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $150,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $150,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $130,015 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $76,657 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Oviedo sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
8 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 | 2 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 211,474 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Natural | 39,000 | 41.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 17,000 | 14.4 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 13,600 | 33.1 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 10,560 | 38.3 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 10,240 | 19.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 10,119 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2009 | Recreation and ceremony | 10,022 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 9,000 | 33.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7,500 | 18.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Recreation and ceremony | 7,302 | 17.2 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 7,000 | 45.2 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 6,575 | 42.6 mi |
Top 8 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 Oviedo. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Oviedo.
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.