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 Sebring responded to 435 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $266K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 51% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,071 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $5.1M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 162 | — | |
| 2022 | 450 | — | |
| 2023 | 477 | +6.0% | |
| 2024 | 547 | +14.7% | |
| 2025 | 435 | -20.5% |
* Well below Sebring'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 31 building fires Sebring departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 908 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 | 212 | 23.3% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 152 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 126 | 13.9% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 81 | 8.9% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 60 | 6.6% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 40 | 4.4% | |
| 7 | Other | 34 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 27 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 15 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 13 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 148 | 16.3% |
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 Sebring mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 475 | 52.3% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 54 | 5.9% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 49 | 5.4% | |
| 4 | Lightning | 41 | 4.5% | |
| 5 | Cigarette lighter | 38 | 4.2% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 34 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 30 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 23 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 18 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 18 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 128 | 14.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Sebring departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 73% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $265,715 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $150,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $120,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $75,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $30,000 | Fire in mobile prop. used as a fixed struc., other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Sebring sits above 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 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 2 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 184,610 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 43,561 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 23,250 | 42.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 17,000 | 19.4 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8,800 | 14.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 8,500 | 41.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 7,104 | 49.6 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 7,000 | 47.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Equipment and vehicle use | 6,000 | 42.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 5,964 | 21.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Equipment and vehicle use | 5,500 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 4,835 | 32.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Equipment and vehicle use | 4,620 | 41.4 mi |
Top 7 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 Sebring. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
4 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Sebring.
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.