East Central Reporter

Mattoon Fire Department responded to 254 calls in 2017 - 14.4 percent more than the previous year, according to data from the National Fire Incident Reporting System.

The calls in Mattoon included 86 fires - 33 structure fires, 17 vehicle fires and 36 other fires. The fire department also responded to two calls for ruptures, explosions or overheating.

In all, the department saw $511,090 in fire loss - or about $5,943 per fire.

The department also received 166 false calls, including four malicious calls and 162 other false calls.

The Mattoon Firefighters Pension Fund, which has 31 active employees and 55 retired or inactive employees, was $2,961,201 in debt as of April 2016, according to the fund's mandated filings with the Illinois Department of Insurance. That amounts to $38,457 for every fire in 2016.

	2016	2017	Year-over-year change (%)
Structure Fires	31	33	6.5
Vehicle Fires	16	17	6.2
Other fires	30	36	20
Total Fires	77	86	11.7
Total Calls	222	254	14.4