South Cook News

Matteson Fire Department responded to 772 calls in 2017 - 13.9 percent more than the previous year, according to data from the National Fire Incident Reporting System.

The calls in Matteson included 116 fires - 64 structure fires, 21 vehicle fires and 31 other fires. The fire department also responded to five calls for ruptures, explosions or overheating.

In all, the department saw $660,915 in fire loss - or about $5,698 per fire.

The department also received 651 false calls, including six malicious calls and 645 other false calls.

The calls resulted in four civilian fire-related injuries. Additionally, one fire service member was injured in fire-related incidents and six were injured in non fire-related incidents.

The Matteson Firefighters Pension Fund, which has 28 active employees and 36 retired or inactive employees, was $2,032,736 in debt as of April 2016, according to the fund's mandated filings with the Illinois Department of Insurance. That amounts to $42,349 for every fire in 2016.

	2016	2017	Year-over-year change (%)
Structure Fires	17	64	276.5
Vehicle Fires	16	21	31.2
Other fires	15	31	106.7
Total Fires	48	116	141.7
Total Calls	678	772	13.9