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 Wesley Chapel responded to 225 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $302K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 54% of all calls.
May peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,299 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $8.7M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 252 | — | |
| 2022 | 250 | -0.8% | |
| 2023 | 267 | +6.8% | |
| 2024 | 305 | +14.2% | |
| 2025 | 225 | -26.2% |
For the 20 building fires Wesley Chapel departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 443 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 | 100 | 22.6% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 46 | 10.4% | |
| 3 | Wildland, woods | 42 | 9.5% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 37 | 8.4% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 31 | 7.0% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 24 | 5.4% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 23 | 5.2% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 18 | 4.1% | |
| 9 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 11 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 11 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 100 | 22.6% |
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 Wesley Chapel mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 119 | 26.9% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 62 | 14.0% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 35 | 7.9% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 33 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 30 | 6.8% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 26 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 20 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Lightning | 20 | 4.5% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 18 | 4.1% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 12 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 68 | 15.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Wesley Chapel departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 77% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $301,983 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $86,689 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $80,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Wesley Chapel sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
16 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 | 4 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 54,651 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 | 33.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,407 | 37.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 3,000 | 29.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Equipment and vehicle use | 2,507 | 30.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 2,500 | 41.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,275 | 18.4 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,189 | 27.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,000 | 32.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 2,000 | 27.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 2,000 | 40.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,939 | 33.4 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,775 | 26.9 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 Wesley Chapel. 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.