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 Palm Beach responded to 64 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $379K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Palm Beach's departments reported 64 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 137 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 73% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
683 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $2.8M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 150 | — | |
| 2022 | 133 | -11.3% | |
| 2023 | 185 | +39.1% | |
| 2024 | 151 | -18.4% | |
| 2025* | 64 | — |
* Well below Palm Beach'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 3 building fires Palm Beach departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 78 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 | 11 | 14.1% | |
| 2 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 9 | 11.5% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 9 | 11.5% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 7 | 9.0% | |
| 5 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 5 | 6.4% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 5 | 6.4% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 5 | 6.4% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Wall assembly | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 19 | 24.4% |
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 Palm Beach mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat source: other | 31 | 39.7% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 16 | 20.5% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 5 | 6.4% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 5.1% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 5.1% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Lightning | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Fireworks | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 6 | 7.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Palm Beach departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $379,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $4 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Palm Beach sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 452,375 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Natural | 57,000 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 49,500 | 45.2 mi | |
| 1997 | Equipment and vehicle use | 41,000 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 26,428 | 31.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Natural | 25,000 | 39.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | 23,500 | 45.0 mi | |
| 2019 | Natural | 21,100 | 34.7 mi | |
| 1994 | Natural | 17,000 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 16,000 | 32.1 mi | |
| 1996 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 15,000 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 14,000 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Equipment and vehicle use | 13,700 | 48.8 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 33480 | 683 |
Six Florida cities with population within ±25% of Palm Beach. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Palm Beach.
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.