Metro East Sun

Alton Fire Department responded to 450 calls in 2018 - 15.1 percent more than the previous year, according to data from the National Fire Incident Reporting System.

The calls in Alton included 188 fires - 92 structure fires, 26 vehicle fires and 70 other fires. The fire department also responded to two calls for ruptures, explosions or overheating.

In all, the department saw $807,344 in fire loss - or about $4,294 per fire.

The department also received 260 false calls, including five malicious calls and 255 other false calls.

The calls resulted in three civilian fire-related injuries and one civilian fire-related death. Additionally, one fire service member was injured in fire-related incidents and one was injured in non fire-related incidents.

	2017	2018	Year-over-year change (%)
Building Fires	85	92	8.2
Vehicle Fires	14	26	85.7
Other Fires	61	70	14.8
Total Fires	160	188	17.5
Total Calls	391	450	15.1