North Cook News

Wilmette Fire Department responded to 524 calls in 2017 - 7.4 percent more than the previous year, according to data from the National Fire Incident Reporting System.

The calls in Wilmette included 50 fires - 33 structure fires, five vehicle fires and 12 other fires. The fire department also responded to three calls for ruptures, explosions or overheating.

In all, the department saw $1,734,370 in fire loss - or about $34,687 per fire.

The department also received 471 false calls, including five malicious calls and 466 other false calls.

The Wilmette Firefighters Pension Fund, which has 44 active employees and 59 retired or inactive employees, was $267,385 in debt as of December 2016, according to the fund's mandated filings with the Illinois Department of Insurance. That amounts to $5,457 for every fire in 2016.

	2016	2017	Year-over-year change (%)
Structure Fires	31	33	6.5
Vehicle Fires	5	5	0
Other fires	13	12	-7.7
Total Fires	49	50	2
Total Calls	488	524	7.4