South West Illinois News

Sparta Fire Department responded to 34 calls in 2017 - 26.1 percent less than the previous year, according to data from the National Fire Incident Reporting System.

The calls in Sparta included 23 fires - six structure fires, two vehicle fires and 15 other fires.

In all, the department saw $17,300 in fire loss - or about $752 per fire.

The department also received 11 false calls.

	2016	2017	Year-over-year change (%)
Structure Fires	10	6	-40
Vehicle Fires	5	2	-60
Other fires	7	15	114.3
Total Fires	22	23	4.5
Total Calls	46	34	-26.1