Metro East Sun

Highland Fire Department responded to 38 calls in 2017 - 37.7 percent less than the previous year, according to data from the National Fire Incident Reporting System.

The calls in Highland included 14 fires - seven structure fires, three vehicle fires and four other fires.

In all, the department saw $58,750 in fire loss - or about $4,196 per fire.

The department also received 24 false calls.

The calls resulted in one civilian fire-related injury.

The Highland Fire Department had an annual budget of $221,592 in 2017.

The Highland Park Firefighters Pension Fund, which has 50 active employees and 60 retired or inactive employees, was $2,286,850 in debt as of December 2016, according to the fund's mandated filings with the Illinois Department of Insurance. That amounts to $142,928 for every fire in 2016.

	2016	2017	Year-over-year change (%)
Structure Fires	8	7	-12.5
Vehicle Fires	3	3	0
Other fires	5	4	-20
Total Fires	16	14	-12.5
Total Calls	61	38	-37.7