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 Williston responded to 84 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 50% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
350 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $4.5M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 23 | — | |
| 2022* | 19 | — | |
| 2023 | 144 | — | |
| 2024 | 80 | -44.4% | |
| 2025 | 84 | +5.0% |
* Well below Williston'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 9 building fires Williston departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 151 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 | 63 | 41.7% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 13 | 8.6% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 13 | 8.6% | |
| 4 | Other | 11 | 7.3% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 11 | 7.3% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 6 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 5 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Equipment or service area, other | 3 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 1.3% | |
| 10 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 2 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 22 | 14.6% |
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 Williston mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 91 | 60.3% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 13 | 8.6% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 9 | 6.0% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 6 | 4.0% | |
| 5 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 5 | 3.3% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 2.6% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 4 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 3 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 3 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 10 | 6.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Williston departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 96% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $140,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $99,940 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $40,000 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $10,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Williston sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 85,925 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 14,626 | 38.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Recreation and ceremony | 10,022 | 47.5 mi | |
| 1998 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 6,500 | 29.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 5,679 | 36.5 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,170 | 35.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 4,014 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Equipment and vehicle use | 3,713 | 25.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 3,175 | 14.6 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 3,149 | 48.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 3,111 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Equipment and vehicle use | 2,933 | 33.9 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,616 | 21.6 mi |
Top 2 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 Williston. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Williston.
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.