SE Illinois News

Mt Carmel Fire Department responded to 60 calls in 2017 - 15.5 percent less than the previous year, according to data from the National Fire Incident Reporting System.

The calls in Mt Carmel included 26 fires - nine structure fires, four vehicle fires and 13 other fires.

In all, the department saw $474,550 in fire loss - or about $18,252 per fire.

The department also received 34 false calls, including one malicious call and 33 other false calls.

The Mount Carmel Firefighters Pension Fund, which has four active employees and three retired or inactive employees, was $74,286 in debt as of April 2016, according to the fund's mandated filings with the Illinois Department of Insurance. That amounts to $2,251 for every fire in 2016.

	2016	2017	Year-over-year change (%)
Structure Fires	16	9	-43.8
Vehicle Fires	8	4	-50
Other fires	9	13	44.4
Total Fires	33	26	-21.2
Total Calls	71	60	-15.5