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 Winter Haven responded to 370 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $125K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 64% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,857 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $6.6M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 290 | — | |
| 2022 | 458 | +57.9% | |
| 2023 | 345 | -24.7% | |
| 2024 | 394 | +14.2% | |
| 2025 | 370 | -6.1% |
For the 41 building fires Winter Haven departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 435 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 | 74 | 17.0% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 57 | 13.1% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 53 | 12.2% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 44 | 10.1% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 26 | 6.0% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 14 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 13 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 12 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 12 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 11 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 119 | 27.4% |
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 Winter Haven mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 240 | 55.2% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 39 | 9.0% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 28 | 6.4% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 22 | 5.1% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 14 | 3.2% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 11 | 2.5% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 10 | 2.3% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 7 | 1.6% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 7 | 1.6% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 7 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 50 | 11.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Winter Haven departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 73% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $125,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $55,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $45,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $35,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $27,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Winter Haven sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
15 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 | 6 | |
| 30-39 | 4 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 110,410 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 | 17,000 | 46.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 10,119 | 14.4 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8,800 | 38.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7,500 | 37.2 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 7,000 | 44.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 5,964 | 26.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 4,200 | 40.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 4,200 | 35.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 3,900 | 41.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,407 | 24.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,250 | 36.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Recreation and ceremony | 3,200 | 27.8 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 Winter Haven. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Winter Haven.
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.