HAZELWOOD, Mo. – A Hazelwood Citizens group claims a historic victory in Tuesday’s election, becoming the first group to successfully oust directors of a fire district from office.

Voters kicked out three directors of the Robertson Fire Protection District, accused of wasting tax dollars. Directors have repeatedly denied such allegations.

Citizens have been waging a battle against the fire district’s spending for a year. Jennifer Guyton, the head of the group, talked to FOX 2 about the victory.

”It’s shocking, it’s overwhelming, and it restores my faith in democracy,” said Guyton. “People heard us, they saw what was going on, and they said, ‘No, not in my community.'”

Over the last several months, the group has gone door-to-door talking to citizens about the effort.

“No one has ever done this before. Not only has a director never been recalled in the state of Missouri, but to have all three [recalled], it’s pretty incredible,” said Guyton.

Jennifer Guyton and two other citizens ran for the seat vacated by the three ousted directors. As part of Tuesday’s vote, they were elected to those positions.

Guyton does not plan to close any of the Robertson fire stations, but already has some ideas for change.

”First, I want to hire a forensic accountant to go through all the money. We need to know where our money is going,” said Guyton.

This was a high-stakes election, as the former directors insisted they did nothing wrong. They have denied wasting taxpayer dollars.

But the City of Hazelwood said it was going bankrupt because of all the money it was paying the Robertson Fire Protection District, around $4 million a year.

The city has two other fire services that it funds, and altogether, that gobbles up about 40 percent of the city’s budget. The city hopes to get that closer to 20 percent.

Elliott Davis did reach out to the ousted fire district directors for their comment, but they declined.