Peoria Standard

Pekin Fire Department responded to 518 calls in 2018 - 17.2 percent more than the previous year, according to data from the National Fire Incident Reporting System.

The calls in Pekin included 147 fires - 87 structure fires, 17 vehicle fires and 43 other fires. The fire department also responded to eight calls for ruptures, explosions or overheating.

In all, the department saw $913,155 in fire loss - or about $6,212 per fire.

The department also received 363 false calls, including 13 malicious calls and 350 other false calls.

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

The Pekin Firefighters Pension Fund, which has 52 active employees and 81 retired or inactive employees, was $1,153,410 in debt as of April 2017, according to the fund's mandated filings with the Illinois Department of Insurance. That amounts to $6,990 for every fire in 2017.

	2017	2018	Year-over-year change (%)
Building Fires	88	87	-1.1
Vehicle Fires	21	17	-19
Other Fires	56	43	-23.2
Total Fires	165	147	-10.9
Total Calls	442	518	17.2