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 Stock Island responded to 21 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.0M building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Aircraft standby lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 76% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
71 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $2.4M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 0 | — | |
| 2022 | 15 | — | |
| 2023 | 24 | +60.0% | |
| 2024 | 11 | -54.2% | |
| 2025 | 21 | +90.9% |
* Well below Stock Island'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 1 building fires Stock Island 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 | 11 | 52.4% | |
| 2 | Other | 3 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 9.5% | |
| 4 | Storage area, other | 2 | 9.5% | |
| 5 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Outside area, other | 1 | 4.8% |
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 Stock Island mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 12 | 57.1% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 19.0% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 2 | 9.5% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 9.5% | |
| 5 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 4.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Stock Island departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000,000 | Water vehicle fire | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $1,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Stock Island sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 6 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 247 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 100 | 24.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Recreation and ceremony | 73 | 24.7 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 35 | 25.9 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 17 | 24.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 12 | 25.4 mi | |
| 1996 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 10 | 22.3 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 Stock Island. 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.