McHenry Times

Crystal Lake Fire Department responded to 746 calls in 2017 - 10.6 percent less than the previous year, according to data from the National Fire Incident Reporting System.

The calls in Crystal Lake included 67 fires - 28 structure fires, 16 vehicle fires and 23 other fires. The fire department also responded to two calls for ruptures, explosions or overheating.

In all, the department saw $1,082,350 in fire loss - or about $16,154 per fire.

The department also received 677 false calls, including four malicious calls and 673 other false calls.

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

The Crystal Lake Fire Department had an annual budget of $1,465,360 in 2017.

The Crystal Lake Firefighters Pension Fund, which has 63 active employees and 31 retired or inactive employees, was $912,632 in debt as of April 2016, according to the fund's mandated filings with the Illinois Department of Insurance. That amounts to $18,625 for every fire in 2016.

	2016	2017	Year-over-year change (%)
Structure Fires	19	28	47.4
Vehicle Fires	9	16	77.8
Other fires	21	23	9.5
Total Fires	49	67	36.7
Total Calls	834	746	-10.6