MUSKOGEE – On Tuesday, the Hochatown Fire Department Association (HFDA) and the Hochatown Volunteer Fire Department filed a federal lawsuit against the Board of County Commissioners of McCurtain County, the Town of Hochatown, and against John Williams and Adam Vossen individually.
The lawsuit claims several constitutional violations and says the court action is being taken “to remedy the seizure of a private fire station and firefighting apparatus by two local governments without a court order, a writ, a condemnation proceeding, notice, a hearing, or any legal process of any kind.”
The 33-page-long petition gives a brief history of the HFDA, which owns the building used by the HVFD on a piece of land beside US 259 that Weyerhaeuser donated.
Petitioners seek an injunction restoring HFDA’s access to and control of the property, including restoration of water service, and the volunteer fire department’s possession of its equipment, a court order halting defendants from performing a Facilities Agreement, and an order stopping defendants from exercising authority over plaintiffs and/or their assets through the new HVFD board members appointed on Aug. 10.
Plaintiffs also seek compensation for “the taking and damaging of their property, with interest, plus attorney fees and costs.
During most of this year, county commissioners have scheduled, during most of their meetings, a closed session to discuss the HVFD with legal counsel.
The possible litigation mentioned as the cause for the sessions has now become actual litigation.
Key parts of history
The Hochatown Fire Department Association is a non-profit corporation incorporated in 1993.
The HVFD was organized the following year, and in 2003 county commissioners received a petition for the department to become a Title 19 fire department.
The petition, approved that year, said, “the proposed county fire department shall have administration and control of all fire department real and tangible assets.”
The petition notes that ownership was not changed; only “administration and control” were.
The court action notes that the petitioner seeking the fire department’s reorganization was “Hochatown Volunteer Fire Department Association.”
The petition notes the volunteer department holds title certificates to the firefighting apparatus, and the titles make no mention of the county or the town.
Another key development for the department was in 2006, when county voters approved a ¼-cent sales tax in support of county fire departments. After its passage, the HVFD began getting sales tax money to help fund its operations.
The most recent historical development was what the petition calls “The 2025 Campaign to Dissolve and Defund HVFD.”
The petition says the county in October 2025 met with legal counsel to begin a petition to dissolve the HVFD, to stop the department from getting sales tax money while the dissolution was being pursued, to modify HVFD’s service area to exclude areas within the corporate limits of Hochatown, and to direct EMS to halt dispatching calls within those limits to HVFD.
The following month, the county’s Firefighters’ Association, at Williams’ request, voted to remove HVFD from its association, the petition alleges.
The petition claims the county and Hochatown hired a locksmith to change locks on the fire station and that a technology contractor also caused the fire station’s security system to be destroyed.
HFDA and HVFD members filed criminal trespass complaints because of those actions.
Petitioners are demanding a jury trial. Magistrate Judge Jason Robertson is presiding in the case.
Petitioners are asking that actions taken in violation of the Open Meeting Act be declared invalid, and several violations are alleged.
The filing claims that the HFDA and HVFD remain excluded from the property and deprived of their equipment, HVFD’s firefighters remain barred from responding to emergency calls, the property has been stripped of its security system, and the station’s fire hydrant has been ordered placed under the town’s lock, yet plaintiffs have never been afforded notice, a hearing, or any due process of any kind.
