West Cook News

North Riverside Fire Department responded to 240 calls in 2017 - 3.6 percent less than the previous year, according to data from the National Fire Incident Reporting System.

The calls in North Riverside included 31 fires - 20 structure fires, two vehicle fires and nine other fires. The fire department also responded to one call for ruptures, explosions or overheating.

In all, the department saw $213,650 in fire loss - or about $6,892 per fire.

The department also received 208 false calls, including three malicious calls and 205 other false calls.

The North Riverside Firefighters Pension Fund, which has 14 active employees and 19 retired or inactive employees, was $899,112 in debt as of April 2016, according to the fund's mandated filings with the Illinois Department of Insurance. That amounts to $32,111 for every fire in 2016.

	2016	2017	Year-over-year change (%)
Structure Fires	20	20	0
Vehicle Fires	4	2	-50
Other fires	4	9	125
Total Fires	28	31	10.7
Total Calls	249	240	-3.6