"They weren't asked to leave nor were they forced to leave," said Cave City's new fire chief Kenneth Moulder. "They left by their own decision. We have no problem with that."

Moulder was recently appointed as fire chief and fills a vacancy left by Murl Stewart, who resigned last week. Stewart also did not give city officials a reason for leaving the fire department. He had served as the city's fire chief for about six years.

"Chief Stewart resigned on his own because of his situation when he left," said Moulder.

After Stewart resigned, B.R. Reynolds, who had served as the fire department's assistant chief, took over as acting chief until the city could appoint a new fire chief.

"Apparently they wanted him (Reynolds) to be chief, but he didn't want it because of his health," said Moulder.

Moulder said he didn't believe the firefighters leaving was an issue related to Stewart's resignation. He said he couldn't understand why the firefighters left because he had worked with them as a fellow firefighter for the past 10 to 12 years.

"They didn't have a problem working with me then, but now they say they can't," said Moulder.

He said it is a possibility that one or more of the firefighters wanted to be chief.

Cave City officials say the fact that the fire department lost 11 firefighters hasn't hurt the fire department's ability to fight fires.

"The citizens of Cave City and the fire district we serve...we want them to know and be assured that the service is there, and is going to be there as strong as ever," said Mayor Bob Hunt.

Since the firefighters resigned, said Moulder, the fire department has had a large number of applications from people wanting to serve. Some who submitted applications have previously served on the fire department and are trained and certified. But Moulder pointed out that none those submitting applications were firemen who had quit earlier this week.

The city's Safety Committee plans to scan each application and also have the chief of police conduct a background check of applicants the Safety Committee chooses. If the applicants don't pass the background check, they won't be allowed to become a firefighter, said Hunt.

"We're going to scan each one," said Hunt. "Find those who were on before that are trained and certified and find out if they want to come back."

After scanning the applicants that are certified and have had training, said Moulder, they then will begin scanning applicants who are not certified.

Mayor Hunt will be involved in checking the applicants, said Moulder.

"If there is any problem whatsoever, once they have been cleared , and they act like there is a problem with the fire department, the chief, or the other officers, we'll all get together and feel like if they need to be put on or set aside for awhile," said Moulder.

He continued that the fire department could have as many as 30 firefighters if the city wanted, "but we want to go at this at a steady pace. When we get ready to put someone on, we want to know that is who we want to put on," he said.

"We will make sure they understand the program and will accept the guidelines set forth by the city," said Hunt.

Among the 12 firefighters remaining, the city, has four who are emergency medical technicians.

Hunt pointed out that 68 percent of the calls the fire department receives each month are medical runs. The others are fire calls.