South Cook News

Matteson Fire District responded to 775 calls in 2018 - 0.4 percent more than the previous year, according to data from the National Fire Incident Reporting System.

The calls in Matteson included 116 fires - 67 structure fires, 25 vehicle fires and 24 other fires.

In all, the department saw $1,134,797 in fire loss - or about $9,783 per fire.

The department also received 659 false calls, including seven malicious calls and 652 other false calls.

The calls resulted in three civilian fire-related injuries. Additionally, three fire service members were injured in fire-related incidents and five were injured in non fire-related incidents.

The Matteson Firefighters Pension Fund, which has 31 active employees and 41 retired or inactive employees, was $15,078 in debt as of April 2017, according to the fund's mandated filings with the Illinois Department of Insurance. That amounts to $130 for every fire in 2017.

	2017	2018	Year-over-year change (%)
Building Fires	64	67	4.7
Vehicle Fires	21	25	19
Other Fires	31	24	-22.6
Total Fires	116	116	0
Total Calls	772	775	0.4