Will County Gazette

East Joliet Fire Protection District responded to 167 calls in 2017 - 4.4 percent more than the previous year, according to data from the National Fire Incident Reporting System.

The calls in East Joliet included 66 fires - 32 structure fires, six vehicle fires and 28 other fires. The fire department also responded to one call for ruptures, explosions or overheating.

In all, the department saw $800,600 in fire loss - or about $12,130 per fire.

The department also received 100 false calls, including four malicious calls and 96 other false calls.

The East Joliet Fire Protection District had an annual budget of $4,169,181 in 2017.

The East Joliet FPD Firefighters Pension Fund, which has 10 active employees and eight retired or inactive employees, was $10,040 in debt as of August 2016, according to the fund's mandated filings with the Illinois Department of Insurance. That amounts to $159 for every fire in 2016.

	2016	2017	Year-over-year change (%)
Structure Fires	14	32	128.6
Vehicle Fires	19	6	-68.4
Other fires	30	28	-6.7
Total Fires	63	66	4.8
Total Calls	160	167	4.4