Metro East Sun

Edwardsville Fire Department responded to 243 calls in 2017 - 15.9 percent less than the previous year, according to data from the National Fire Incident Reporting System.

The calls in Edwardsville included 56 fires - 27 structure fires, nine vehicle fires and 20 other fires. The fire department also responded to three calls for ruptures, explosions or overheating.

In all, the department saw $437,860 in fire loss - or about $7,819 per fire.

The department also received 184 false calls, including two malicious calls and 182 other false calls.

The calls resulted in one civilian fire-related injury.

The Edwardsville Firefighters Pension Fund, which has 28 active employees and 22 retired or inactive employees, was $1,220,662 in debt as of April 2016, according to the fund's mandated filings with the Illinois Department of Insurance. That amounts to $19,688 for every fire in 2016.

	2016	2017	Year-over-year change (%)
Structure Fires	33	27	-18.2
Vehicle Fires	12	9	-25
Other fires	17	20	17.6
Total Fires	62	56	-9.7
Total Calls	289	243	-15.9