South Cook News

Evergreen Park Fire Department responded to 372 calls in 2017 - 7 percent less than the previous year, according to data from the National Fire Incident Reporting System.

The calls in Evergreen Park included 117 fires - 71 structure fires, nine vehicle fires and 37 other fires. The fire department also responded to five calls for ruptures, explosions or overheating.

In all, the department saw $628,570 in fire loss - or about $5,372 per fire.

The department also received 250 false calls, including seven malicious calls and 243 other false calls.

The Evergreen Park Firefighters Pension Fund, which has one active employee and four retired or inactive employees, was $222,459 in debt as of October 2016, according to the fund's mandated filings with the Illinois Department of Insurance. That amounts to $1,612 for every fire in 2016.

	2016	2017	Year-over-year change (%)
Structure Fires	107	71	-33.6
Vehicle Fires	17	9	-47.1
Other fires	14	37	164.3
Total Fires	138	117	-15.2
Total Calls	400	372	-7