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 Port Richey responded to 151 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $150K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Port Richey's departments reported 151 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 263 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 60% of all calls.
May peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,317 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $2.8M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 261 | — | |
| 2022 | 247 | -5.4% | |
| 2023 | 267 | +8.1% | |
| 2024 | 391 | +46.4% | |
| 2025* | 151 | — |
* Well below Port Richey'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 16 building fires Port Richey departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 370 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 | Outside area, other | 63 | 17.0% | |
| 2 | Wildland, woods | 48 | 13.0% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 36 | 9.7% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 31 | 8.4% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 28 | 7.6% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 17 | 4.6% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 14 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 14 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 13 | 3.5% | |
| 10 | Other | 12 | 3.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 94 | 25.4% |
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 Port Richey mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 120 | 32.4% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 34 | 9.2% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 34 | 9.2% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 23 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 22 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 20 | 5.4% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 14 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 14 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 12 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 11 | 3.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 66 | 17.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Port Richey departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 90% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Port Richey sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
16 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 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 30,961 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Natural | 3,000 | 40.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,275 | 6.5 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,189 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 2,000 | 16.2 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,775 | 46.4 mi | |
| 1997 | Natural | 1,700 | 37.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 1,700 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,700 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Natural | 1,427 | 21.2 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 1,287 | 11.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 1,147 | 45.3 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 1,000 | 10.1 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 Port Richey. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Port Richey.
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.