Tensions thicken between Nolanville and volunteer fire department

Killeen Daily Herald
By Thaddeus Imerman | Herald staff writer
March 21, 2023

The city of Nolanville has assured residents its fire services are intact and will continue, but changes will be made, according to Mayor Andy Williams.

At a recent City Council meeting, the city’s elected officials opted to reorganize the fire service with a “hybrid” department of paid and volunteer firefighters, Williams said Tuesday.

The mayor’s statement comes after what appears to be tension between the city and the volunteer fire department that provides services for it, known as Central Bell County Fire and Rescue, or CBCFR.

Interim Fire Chief David Nobles and the volunteer fire department suddenly removed all members of its elected board, the mayor said.

“In response to this unorthodox action, the City has reclaimed assets lent to CBCFR,” Williams said of the removal of the board.

The “reclamation” of the assets led to an argument between Nobles and Michael Hatton, the city’s police chief, and according to a KXXV report, the city’s liaison on the board.

The verbal argument went viral after it was posted to TikTok and has more than 1.7 million views since it was posted to the video sharing site last week.

In the video, Nobles tells Hatton to get off the fire department’s property.

“Let me tell you this, gas cards — everything — has been cut off. You have a bill to pay,” Hatton told Nobles in the video.

Nobles, who posted on Facebook, sees it another way.

“Because we refuse to bring the replaced board back, the City has taken vehicles we were paying for and a wildland truck that was bought as a donation for us,” he said on Facebook.

According to Williams, the trucks were given to the department by the city and were “above and beyond” the financial obligations of the service agreement with the city and the fire department, which is for $45,000 per year.