North Cook News

Palatine Rural Fire Protection District responded to 148 calls in 2017 - 41 percent more than the previous year, according to data from the National Fire Incident Reporting System.

The calls in Palatine Rural included 37 fires - 33 structure fires and four other fires. The fire department also responded to one call for ruptures, explosions or overheating.

In all, the department saw $151,000 in fire loss - or about $4,081 per fire.

The department also received 110 false calls, including 11 malicious calls and 99 other false calls.

The Palatine Rural Fire Protection District had an annual budget of $4,452,235 in 2016.

The Palatine Rural FPD Firefighters Pension Fund, which has 17 active employees and 18 retired or inactive employees, was $428,964 positive as of December 2016, according to the fund's mandated filings with the Illinois Department of Insurance. That amounts to $20,427 for every fire in 2016.

	2016	2017	Year-over-year change (%)
Structure Fires	18	33	83.3
Vehicle Fires	1	0	-100
Other fires	2	4	100
Total Fires	21	37	76.2
Total Calls	105	148	41