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 Tallahassee responded to 1,479 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $250K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 51% of all calls.
May peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
9,525 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $35.8M cumulative property loss. 5 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 1,664 | — | |
| 2022 | 2,084 | +25.2% | |
| 2023 | 2,255 | +8.2% | |
| 2024 | 2,043 | -9.4% | |
| 2025 | 1,479 | -27.6% |
For the 146 building fires Tallahassee departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 3,483 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 | 660 | 18.9% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 584 | 16.8% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 428 | 12.3% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 223 | 6.4% | |
| 5 | Other | 203 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 201 | 5.8% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 181 | 5.2% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 109 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 73 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 70 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 751 | 21.6% |
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 Tallahassee mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 1,681 | 48.3% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 303 | 8.7% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 297 | 8.5% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 205 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 176 | 5.1% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 107 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 107 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 70 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 67 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 55 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 415 | 11.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Tallahassee departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 32% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $172,068 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Tallahassee sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
86 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 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 6 | |
| 30-39 | 4 | |
| 40-49 | 6 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 3 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 122,377 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 26,279 | 30.4 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 24,602 | 25.3 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10,458 | 35.9 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7,498 | 40.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 6,679 | 38.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 6,675 | 16.9 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 5,622 | 32.9 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,384 | 46.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 3,000 | 49.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,983 | 48.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 2,624 | 24.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,614 | 46.3 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 Tallahassee. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Tallahassee.
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.