East Central Reporter

Effingham Fire Department responded to 306 calls in 2017 - 6.2 percent more than the previous year, according to data from the National Fire Incident Reporting System.

The calls in Effingham included 114 fires - 68 structure fires, 17 vehicle fires and 29 other fires. The fire department also responded to 15 calls for ruptures, explosions or overheating.

In all, the department saw $804,900 in fire loss - or about $7,061 per fire.

The department also received 177 false calls, including three malicious calls and 174 other false calls.

The calls resulted in four civilian fire-related injuries. Additionally, eight fire service members were injured in fire-related incidents and three were injured in non fire-related incidents.

The Effingham Firefighters Pension Fund, which has 16 active employees and 16 retired or inactive employees, was $759,710 in debt as of April 2016, according to the fund's mandated filings with the Illinois Department of Insurance. That amounts to $9,265 for every fire in 2016.

	2016	2017	Year-over-year change (%)
Structure Fires	52	68	30.8
Vehicle Fires	17	17	0
Other fires	13	29	123.1
Total Fires	82	114	39
Total Calls	288	306	6.2