West Cook News

Melrose Park Fire Department responded to 575 calls in 2017 - 10.6 percent more than the previous year, according to data from the National Fire Incident Reporting System.

The calls in Melrose Park included 74 fires - 28 structure fires, 19 vehicle fires and 27 other fires. The fire department also responded to three calls for ruptures, explosions or overheating.

In all, the department saw $604,300 in fire loss - or about $8,166 per fire.

The department also received 498 false calls, including 11 malicious calls and 487 other false calls.

The calls resulted in one civilian fire-related injury.

The Melrose Park Firefighters Pension Fund, which has 61 active employees and 74 retired or inactive employees, was $3,005,973 in debt as of December 2016, according to the fund's mandated filings with the Illinois Department of Insurance. That amounts to $57,807 for every fire in 2016.

	2016	2017	Year-over-year change (%)
Structure Fires	30	28	-6.7
Vehicle Fires	11	19	72.7
Other fires	11	27	145.5
Total Fires	52	74	42.3
Total Calls	520	575	10.6