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 Redington Beach responded to 22 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 77% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
130 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $5.2M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 13 | — | |
| 2022* | 5 | — | |
| 2023* | 11 | — | |
| 2024 | 79 | — | |
| 2025 | 22 | -72.2% |
* Well below Redington 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 5 building fires Redington Beach departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 21 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 | Undetermined | 7 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 3 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 9.5% | |
| 4 | Other | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 5 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Swimming pool | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Conduit, pipe, utility, or ventilation shaft | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 9 | Wall assembly | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 10 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 2 | 9.5% |
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 Redington Beach mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 10 | 47.6% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 3 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Chemical reaction | 2 | 9.5% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 4.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Redington Beach departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $250 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Redington Beach sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
24 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 | 6 | |
| 30-39 | 13 | |
| 40-49 | 3 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 25,822 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 | 27.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,275 | 32.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,000 | 43.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 2,000 | 48.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,939 | 42.8 mi | |
| 2009 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,500 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Natural | 1,300 | 44.6 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 1,287 | 33.8 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 1,000 | 35.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 800 | 43.3 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 750 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 650 | 42.5 mi |
Top 2 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 Redington Beach. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.