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.
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In 2025, fire departments serving Tampa responded to 2,875 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $15.8M building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 46% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
17,101 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $103.8M cumulative property loss. 8 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 3,258 | — | |
| 2022 | 3,364 | +3.3% | |
| 2023 | 3,407 | +1.3% | |
| 2024 | 4,197 | +23.2% | |
| 2025 | 2,875 | -31.5% |
For the 237 building fires Tampa departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 4,394 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 854 | 19.4% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 800 | 18.2% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 361 | 8.2% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 328 | 7.5% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 256 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 250 | 5.7% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 176 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 128 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 108 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 104 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 1,029 | 23.4% |
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 Tampa mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat source: other | 4,175 | 95.0% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 94 | 2.1% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 40 | 0.9% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 17 | 0.4% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 10 | 0.2% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 10 | 0.2% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 9 | 0.2% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 7 | 0.2% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 7 | 0.2% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 5 | 0.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 20 | 0.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Tampa departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 58% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $15,834,500 | Building fires | Catastrophic | Investigated |
| 2 | $2,500,000 | Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $1,500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $1,377,800 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $800,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 6 | $700,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 7 | $681,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 8 | $639,363 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Tampa sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
104 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 | 9 | |
| 10-19 | 3 | |
| 20-29 | 15 | |
| 30-39 | 23 | |
| 40-49 | 16 | |
| 50-59 | 11 | |
| 60-69 | 13 | |
| 70-79 | 6 | |
| 80+ | 3 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 48,693 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 10,119 | 43.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 3,000 | 15.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Equipment and vehicle use | 2,507 | 44.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 2,500 | 36.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,275 | 21.2 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,189 | 41.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,000 | 25.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 2,000 | 36.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 2,000 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,939 | 25.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,775 | 42.8 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 1,600 | 39.6 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 Tampa. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Tampa.
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.