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 Sanford responded to 481 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.0M 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 42% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
3,184 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $13.1M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 549 | — | |
| 2022 | 834 | +51.9% | |
| 2023 | 821 | -1.6% | |
| 2024 | 499 | -39.2% | |
| 2025 | 481 | -3.6% |
For the 36 building fires Sanford departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 566 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 | 102 | 18.0% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 86 | 15.2% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 55 | 9.7% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 42 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 30 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 27 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 27 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 17 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 15 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 14 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 151 | 26.7% |
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 Sanford mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat source: other | 352 | 62.2% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 84 | 14.8% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 30 | 5.3% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 27 | 4.8% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 17 | 3.0% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 11 | 1.9% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 11 | 1.9% | |
| 8 | Heat, spark from friction | 5 | 0.9% | |
| 9 | Lightning | 5 | 0.9% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 4 | 0.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 20 | 3.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Sanford departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 73% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $750,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $180,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $80,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Sanford 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 | 2 | |
| 20-29 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 5 | |
| 40-49 | 3 | |
| 50-59 | 9 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 202,155 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 | 32.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 17,000 | 19.1 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 13,600 | 26.1 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 10,560 | 27.8 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 10,240 | 15.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Recreation and ceremony | 10,022 | 37.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 9,000 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7,500 | 22.4 mi | |
| 2017 | Recreation and ceremony | 7,302 | 26.7 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 6,575 | 34.2 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 6,420 | 19.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 6,263 | 38.8 mi |
Top 5 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 Sanford. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Sanford.
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.