BUCKEYE LAKE, Ohio — The resignation of Buckeye Lake’s fire chief and several firefighters has left the village leaning on mutual aid from surrounding departments.
Buckeye Lake Fire Chief Keisha Amspaugh submitted her resignation last week. Several firefighters within the department also resigned.
Mayor Linda Goodman said the resignation came as a surprise to her. She added they currently have eight part-time firefighters on the village’s roster, which included firefighters hired in recent days. Goodman said she intends to have an interim chief hired by late Thursday.
Without enough firefighters to staff the fire station at all times, the village has had to turn to mutual aid agreements with West Licking Fire Department and Walnut Township Fire Department, according to Goodman.
“I met with the West Licking chief and assistant chief. They assured me that everything was set up, that they know the minute a call comes in. They have us so that we are safe. It’s important to me that our residents know that,” Goodman said.
Late Wednesday morning, 10TV was at the Buckeye Lake Fire Department. No one was inside, but a medical call was dispatched for an address down the street. That ambulance came from the West Licking station in Hebron.
Later, a crash happened a third of a mile from the station. Two people pulled into the parking lot to alert firefighters of the crash, but they found no one was there to help. West Licking responded again.
John Lemmon, Buckeye Lake Village Council president, said that the crash was outside of Buckeye Lake’s jurisdiction. He added that crews would have gone to help if there was someone there.
“We’ve kept it as full as we possibly can. The typical staff of this firehouse is two people at a time. Other people are on call. We still have that. I don’t know who was supposed to be scheduled right now. We are trying to get more people in,” Lemmon said.
Even though the typical staffing is two people at a time, Goodman explained there have been times when just one person is at the station. One person isn’t allowed to run a call but can respond if one of the mutual aid departments is also responding.
Lemmon also referenced the mutual aid agreements with other departments.
“When we have staff, ours goes over there. Theirs come over here. It’s kind of how the whole system is set up,” he said.
Both Goodman and Lemmon expressed that residents of Buckeye Lake are safe and covered while the village works to improve the staffing of its department.
The village voted in 2023 for an 8-mill levy generating $531,000 per year for the department, according to the Licking County Auditor’s Office.
10TV reached out to Chief Amspaugh but did not hear back by the time of publication. She also serves as fire chief for Mary Ann Township.