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 Venice responded to 181 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $250K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Arcing, shorted electrical equipment lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 41% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,345 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $8.2M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 124 | — | |
| 2022 | 340 | — | |
| 2023 | 280 | -17.6% | |
| 2024 | 420 | +50.0% | |
| 2025 | 181 | -56.9% |
* Well below Venice'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 8 building fires Venice departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 235 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 | 45 | 19.1% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 41 | 17.4% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 15 | 6.4% | |
| 4 | Other | 12 | 5.1% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 12 | 5.1% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 11 | 4.7% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 11 | 4.7% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 9 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 7 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 6 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 66 | 28.1% |
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 Venice mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 93 | 39.6% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 29 | 12.3% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 20 | 8.5% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 14 | 6.0% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 13 | 5.5% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 11 | 4.7% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 11 | 4.7% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 10 | 4.3% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 8 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Molten, hot material | 3 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 23 | 9.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Venice departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 98% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $250,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $175,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $62,250 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $30,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Outside storage fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $8,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Venice sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 43,704 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,932 | 11.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 5,837 | 9.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,112 | 21.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 3,000 | 46.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 2,500 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 2,400 | 37.6 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,939 | 48.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 1,674 | 14.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 1,425 | 38.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,400 | 17.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,350 | 17.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Natural | 1,325 | 26.3 mi |
Top 8 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 Venice. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Venice.
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.