South West Illinois News

Chester Fire Department responded to 55 calls in 2017 - 31 percent more than the previous year, according to data from the National Fire Incident Reporting System.

The calls in Chester included 36 fires - 15 structure fires, five vehicle fires and 16 other fires.

In all, the department saw $375,000 in fire loss - or about $10,417 per fire.

The department also received 19 false calls.

The calls resulted in two civilian non-fire injuries. Additionally, one fire service member was injured in fire-related incidents.

The Westchester Firefighters Pension Fund, which has 26 active employees and 28 retired or inactive employees, was $1,613,263 in debt as of April 2016, according to the fund's mandated filings with the Illinois Department of Insurance. That amounts to $67,219 for every fire in 2016.

	2016	2017	Year-over-year change (%)
Structure Fires	13	15	15.4
Vehicle Fires	3	5	66.7
Other fires	8	16	100
Total Fires	24	36	50
Total Calls	42	55	31