West Cook News

River Forest Fire District responded to 403 calls in 2018 - 6.9 percent less than the previous year, according to data from the National Fire Incident Reporting System.

The calls in River Forest included 107 fires - 95 structure fires, five vehicle fires and seven other fires. The fire department also responded to two calls for ruptures, explosions or overheating.

In all, the department saw $105,020 in fire loss - or about $981 per fire.

The department also received 294 false calls, including 12 malicious calls and 282 other false calls.

The River Forest Firefighters Pension Fund, which has 20 active employees and 28 retired or inactive employees, was $570,522 in debt as of April 2017, according to the fund's mandated filings with the Illinois Department of Insurance. That amounts to $7,710 for every fire in 2017.

	2017	2018	Year-over-year change (%)
Building Fires	51	95	86.3
Vehicle Fires	6	5	-16.7
Other Fires	17	7	-58.8
Total Fires	74	107	44.6
Total Calls	433	403	-6.9