Metro East Sun

Belleville Fire Department responded to 644 calls in 2017 - 4.6 percent less than the previous year, according to data from the National Fire Incident Reporting System.

The calls in Belleville included 174 fires - 80 structure fires, 46 vehicle fires and 48 other fires. The fire department also responded to 14 calls for ruptures, explosions or overheating.

In all, the department saw $1,250,040 in fire loss - or about $7,184 per fire.

The department also received 456 false calls, including 12 malicious calls and 444 other false calls.

The calls resulted in one civilian fire-related injury. Additionally, one fire service member was injured in fire-related incidents.

The Belleville Firefighters Pension Fund, which has 63 active employees and 70 retired or inactive employees, was $3,438,275 in debt as of April 2016, according to the fund's mandated filings with the Illinois Department of Insurance. That amounts to $21,094 for every fire in 2016.

	2016	2017	Year-over-year change (%)
Structure Fires	83	80	-3.6
Vehicle Fires	37	46	24.3
Other fires	43	48	11.6
Total Fires	163	174	6.7
Total Calls	675	644	-4.6