South Cook News

Calumet City Fire District responded to 1338 calls in 2018 - 13.2 percent less than the previous year, according to data from the National Fire Incident Reporting System.

The calls in Calumet City included 309 fires - 239 structure fires, 33 vehicle fires and 37 other fires. The fire department also responded to five calls for ruptures, explosions or overheating.

In all, the department saw $802,350 in fire loss - or about $2,597 per fire.

The department also received 1024 false calls, including nine malicious calls and 1015 other false calls.

The calls resulted in one civilian fire-related injury. Additionally, one fire service member was injured in fire-related incidents.

The Calumet City Firefighters Pension Fund, which has 56 active employees and 51 retired or inactive employees, was $123,447 in debt as of April 2017, according to the fund's mandated filings with the Illinois Department of Insurance. That amounts to $449 for every fire in 2017.

	2017	2018	Year-over-year change (%)
Building Fires	173	239	38.2
Vehicle Fires	35	33	-5.7
Other Fires	67	37	-44.8
Total Fires	275	309	12.4
Total Calls	1,541	1,338	-13.2