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 The Villages responded to 70 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. The Villages's departments reported 70 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 178 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 74% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
890 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $6.9M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 79 | — | |
| 2022 | 135 | — | |
| 2023 | 296 | +119.3% | |
| 2024 | 310 | +4.7% | |
| 2025* | 70 | — |
* Well below The Villages'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 6 building fires The Villages departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 236 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 | 47 | 19.9% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 38 | 16.1% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 22 | 9.3% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 17 | 7.2% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 17 | 7.2% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 11 | 4.7% | |
| 7 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 11 | 4.7% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 9 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Other | 7 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 7 | 3.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 50 | 21.2% |
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 The Villages mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 59 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 32 | 13.6% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 26 | 11.0% | |
| 4 | Lightning | 19 | 8.1% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 17 | 7.2% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 17 | 7.2% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 12 | 5.1% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 10 | 4.2% | |
| 9 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 9 | 3.8% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 8 | 3.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 27 | 11.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by The Villages departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $119,223 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $70,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $20,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $5,000 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $2,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $2,000 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $800 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. The Villages sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
11 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 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 4 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 99,697 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Natural | 10,560 | 35.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 10,119 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Recreation and ceremony | 10,022 | 26.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7,500 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 5,420 | 36.6 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 4,200 | 40.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 4,014 | 27.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 3,701 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,407 | 40.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 3,175 | 43.5 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 3,149 | 30.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 3,111 | 22.6 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 The Villages. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in The Villages.
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.