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 Pembroke Pines responded to 328 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 53% of all calls.
May peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,739 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $8.5M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 314 | — | |
| 2022 | 337 | +7.3% | |
| 2023 | 397 | +17.8% | |
| 2024 | 363 | -8.6% | |
| 2025 | 328 | -9.6% |
For the 23 building fires Pembroke Pines departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 495 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 | 112 | 22.6% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 48 | 9.7% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 42 | 8.5% | |
| 4 | Other | 32 | 6.5% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 28 | 5.7% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 26 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 25 | 5.1% | |
| 8 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 22 | 4.4% | |
| 9 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 17 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 12 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 131 | 26.5% |
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 Pembroke Pines mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 209 | 42.2% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 67 | 13.5% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 38 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 37 | 7.5% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 21 | 4.2% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 18 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 15 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Heat, spark from friction | 13 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 9 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Heat source: other | 8 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 60 | 12.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Pembroke Pines departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 73% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $219,732 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $175,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $103,112 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $85,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Pembroke Pines sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
9 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 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,004,426 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 | 30.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 68,295 | 16.7 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 63,599 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 62,404 | 34.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 57,000 | 21.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 49,500 | 22.3 mi | |
| 2019 | Natural | 42,000 | 23.8 mi | |
| 1997 | Equipment and vehicle use | 41,000 | 27.4 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 39,465 | 34.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Equipment and vehicle use | 39,000 | 26.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 38,131 | 45.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 30,636 | 44.4 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 Pembroke Pines. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Pembroke Pines.
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.