North Cook News

Park Ridge Fire Department responded to 705 calls in 2017 - 8.4 percent less than the previous year, according to data from the National Fire Incident Reporting System.

The calls in Park Ridge included 42 fires - 11 structure fires, four vehicle fires and 27 other fires. The fire department also responded to two calls for ruptures, explosions or overheating.

In all, the department saw $257,867 in fire loss - or about $6,140 per fire.

The department also received 661 false calls, including eight malicious calls and 653 other false calls.

The Park Ridge Firefighters Pension Fund, which has 49 active employees and 53 retired or inactive employees, was $2,743,775 in debt as of April 2016, according to the fund's mandated filings with the Illinois Department of Insurance. That amounts to $70,353 for every fire in 2016.

	2016	2017	Year-over-year change (%)
Structure Fires	9	11	22.2
Vehicle Fires	8	4	-50
Other fires	22	27	22.7
Total Fires	39	42	7.7
Total Calls	770	705	-8.4