West Central Reporter

Beardstown Fire Department responded to 75 calls in 2017 - 19 percent more than the previous year, according to data from the National Fire Incident Reporting System.

The calls in Beardstown included 43 fires - 22 structure fires, five vehicle fires and 16 other fires. The fire department also responded to two calls for ruptures, explosions or overheating.

In all, the department saw $696,500 in fire loss - or about $16,198 per fire.

The department also received 30 false calls, including two malicious calls and 28 other false calls.

The calls resulted in one civilian fire-related injury.

The Beardstown Firefighters Pension Fund, which has three active employees and two retired or inactive employees, was $27,627 in debt as of April 2016, according to the fund's mandated filings with the Illinois Department of Insurance. That amounts to $789 for every fire in 2016.

	2016	2017	Year-over-year change (%)
Structure Fires	18	22	22.2
Vehicle Fires	3	5	66.7
Other fires	14	16	14.3
Total Fires	35	43	22.9
Total Calls	63	75	19