Sangamon Sun

Lincoln Rural Fire Protection District responded to 137 calls in 2017 - 10.5 percent less than the previous year, according to data from the National Fire Incident Reporting System.

The calls in Lincoln Rural included 57 fires - 27 structure fires, 13 vehicle fires and 17 other fires. The fire department also responded to one call for ruptures, explosions or overheating.

In all, the department saw $263,575 in fire loss - or about $4,624 per fire.

The department also received 79 false calls, including two malicious calls and 77 other false calls.

The Lincoln Rural Fire Protection District had an annual budget of $1,607,272 in 2017.

The Lincoln Rural FPD Firefighters Pension Fund, which has six active employees and six retired or inactive employees, was $230,198 in debt as of May 2016, according to the fund's mandated filings with the Illinois Department of Insurance. That amounts to $3,197 for every fire in 2016.

	2016	2017	Year-over-year change (%)
Structure Fires	24	27	12.5
Vehicle Fires	20	13	-35
Other fires	28	17	-39.3
Total Fires	72	57	-20.8
Total Calls	153	137	-10.5