West Cook News

Brookfield Fire Department responded to 300 calls in 2017 - 23.5 percent more than the previous year, according to data from the National Fire Incident Reporting System.

The calls in Brookfield included 41 fires - 26 structure fires, three vehicle fires and 12 other fires.

In all, the department saw $99,400 in fire loss - or about $2,424 per fire.

The department also received 259 false calls, including one malicious call and 258 other false calls.

The Brookfield Firefighters Pension Fund, which has 24 active employees and 25 retired or inactive employees, was $26,821 in debt as of December 2016, according to the fund's mandated filings with the Illinois Department of Insurance. That amounts to $624 for every fire in 2016.

	2016	2017	Year-over-year change (%)
Structure Fires	20	26	30
Vehicle Fires	9	3	-66.7
Other fires	14	12	-14.3
Total Fires	43	41	-4.7
Total Calls	243	300	23.5