Galesburg Reporter

Monmouth Fire Department responded to 187 calls in 2017 - 6.5 percent less than the previous year, according to data from the National Fire Incident Reporting System.

The calls in Monmouth included 48 fires - 23 structure fires, seven vehicle fires and 18 other fires. The fire department also responded to seven calls for ruptures, explosions or overheating.

In all, the department saw $420,250 in fire loss - or about $8,755 per fire.

The department also received 132 false calls, including two malicious calls and 130 other false calls.

The calls resulted in one civilian fire-related injury. Additionally, nine fire service members were injured in fire-related incidents.

The Monmouth Firefighters Pension Fund, which has 15 active employees and 22 retired or inactive employees, was $673,198 in debt as of April 2016, according to the fund's mandated filings with the Illinois Department of Insurance. That amounts to $21,716 for every fire in 2016.

	2016	2017	Year-over-year change (%)
Structure Fires	12	23	91.7
Vehicle Fires	4	7	75
Other fires	15	18	20
Total Fires	31	48	54.8
Total Calls	200	187	-6.5