Illinois Valley Times

Lasalle Fire District responded to 94 calls in 2018 - 34.3 percent more than the previous year, according to data from the National Fire Incident Reporting System.

The calls in Lasalle included 36 fires - 24 structure fires, five vehicle fires and seven other fires. The fire department also responded to one call for ruptures, explosions or overheating.

In all, the department saw $421,000 in fire loss - or about $11,694 per fire.

The department also received 57 false calls, including two malicious calls and 55 other false calls.

The Lasalle Firefighters Pension Fund, which has four active employees and three retired or inactive employees, was $35,930 in debt as of April 2017, according to the fund's mandated filings with the Illinois Department of Insurance. That amounts to $1,089 for every fire in 2017.

	2017	2018	Year-over-year change (%)
Building Fires	23	24	4.3
Vehicle Fires	4	5	25
Other Fires	6	7	16.7
Total Fires	33	36	9.1
Total Calls	70	94	34.3