Lake County Gazette

Mundelein Fire Department responded to 540 calls in 2017 - 17.9 percent less than the previous year, according to data from the National Fire Incident Reporting System.

The calls in Mundelein included 31 fires - 17 structure fires, two vehicle fires and 12 other fires. The fire department also responded to three calls for ruptures, explosions or overheating.

In all, the department saw $552,900 in fire loss - or about $17,835 per fire.

The department also received 506 false calls, including three malicious calls and 503 other false calls.

The calls resulted in three civilian fire-related injuries.

The Mundelein Firefighters Pension Fund, which has 26 active employees and 13 retired or inactive employees, was $783,561 in debt as of April 2016, according to the fund's mandated filings with the Illinois Department of Insurance. That amounts to $23,046 for every fire in 2016.

	2016	2017	Year-over-year change (%)
Structure Fires	13	17	30.8
Vehicle Fires	5	2	-60
Other fires	16	12	-25
Total Fires	34	31	-8.8
Total Calls	658	540	-17.9