WOOD COUNTY, OH (Toledo News Now) - Tornado victims near North Baltimore are upset that emergency crews did not respond right away when their home was hit in the Nov. 17 storm.
The night of the storm, 911 dispatchers at the Wood County Sheriff's Office in Bowling Green were swamped with calls for help, but Sheriff Mark Wasylyshyn says that's no excuse for what happened to the Buchmans in their time of need.
A tornado leveled much of their home on Quarry Road, leaving the family homeless. Tye and Desirae Buchman said they called 911, but it took crews two hours to respond.
"We dropped the ball," the sheriff said. "We did not handle the call correctly and that should have been done."
Wasylyshyn is responsible for the county's 911 system and says the dispatcher should have sent someone to help. He says the county handles 40,000 emergency calls
"The dispatcher heard that nobody was injured, is what we were told," he said. "We were told the people were leaving, they didn't have a phone number for us to call them back. We told them to call when they got to their destination. They didn't call back, which is fine. We dropped the ball and should have called the fire department, had them go out and immediately check the property."
He says an immediate check would have confirmed everyone got out okay and that there were no hazards such as a gas leak or live wires. The dispatcher has been reprimanded.
"She understands there will be consequences for that, learn from it and move on," Wasylyshyn said.
A lieutenant met with the Buchmans to explain the mistake. The family did not want to comment on the meeting.
