North Cook News

Niles Fire Department responded to 704 calls in 2017 - 2.8 percent less than the previous year, according to data from the National Fire Incident Reporting System.

The calls in Niles included 60 fires - 26 structure fires, 11 vehicle fires and 23 other fires. The fire department also responded to 11 calls for ruptures, explosions or overheating.

In all, the department saw $885,419 in fire loss - or about $14,757 per fire.

The department also received 633 false calls, including 32 malicious calls and 601 other false calls.

The Niles Firefighters Pension Fund, which has 47 active employees and 62 retired or inactive employees, was $3,448,280 in debt as of April 2016, according to the fund's mandated filings with the Illinois Department of Insurance. That amounts to $76,628 for every fire in 2016.

	2016	2017	Year-over-year change (%)
Structure Fires	24	26	8.3
Vehicle Fires	5	11	120
Other fires	16	23	43.8
Total Fires	45	60	33.3
Total Calls	724	704	-2.8