North Egypt News

Benton Fire District responded to 115 calls in 2018 - 26.3 percent less than the previous year, according to data from the National Fire Incident Reporting System.

The calls in Benton included 70 fires - 44 structure fires, 16 vehicle fires and 10 other fires.

In all, the department saw $136,000 in fire loss - or about $1,943 per fire.

The department also received 45 false calls, including four malicious calls and 41 other false calls.

One fire service member was injured in non fire-related incidents.

The Benton Firefighters Pension Fund, which has four active employees and eight retired or inactive employees, was $82,511 positive as of April 2017, according to the fund's mandated filings with the Illinois Department of Insurance. That amounts to $842 for every fire in 2017.

	2017	2018	Year-over-year change (%)
Building Fires	76	44	-42.1
Vehicle Fires	9	16	77.8
Other Fires	13	10	-23.1
Total Fires	98	70	-28.6
Total Calls	156	115	-26.3