BRUSHTON -- In late July, Brushton and Moira firefighters responded to a fully engulfed blaze that was consuming an abandoned milk plant on county Route 6.
Two of those volunteers, Christopher Stickles, 21, and Justin Slater, 26, from the Brushton Fire Department, who helped battle the surging flames for nearly three hours, are now accused of intentionally sparking the fire.
After launching an investigation into suspicious fires in the Moira area, Malone-based State Police arrested the two volunteers on felony arson charges in connection with the July blaze that turned the building, which rests deep across the road from Stickles' home, into a pile of charred rubble.
"They were actually present at the scene," said Brushton Fire Chief Dominic Barse, who learned the two volunteers were suspects Friday morning, hours before they were taken into custody and sent to Franklin County Jail on charges of third-degree arson.
Barse said he was surprised and dismayed to hear about the allegations against the two men, both of whom passed routine background checks before joining the department.
"It's not unheard of, but you never want to hear about this type of thing, especially involving your department. You always hope something like this will never happen," Barse said.
"If they did this, they did it solely on their own and I think we did everything we could to make sure that nothing like this could happen."
"I've been in the Brushton department for more than 20 years and to my knowledge, we've never had anyone accused of arson," said the fire chief, who discussed the allegations with other officers and suspended the two volunteers pending the outcome of the case.
Moira Fire Chief Keith Fletcher was also surprised and disappointed to hear about the arrests.
"It's not a pleasant experience. We try to do our best when we do background checks and screen for what you can," Fletcher said.
"It's disappointing. The fire service is a dangerous business where we risk our health and lives and you hate to see something like this where someone has disregard for that."
Both Barse and Fletcher said their departments have responded to a number of suspicious fires in the area but were not aware if the two volunteers were being implicated in other blazes.
State Police investigators could not be reached for comment Saturday afternoon, but were continuing to investigate suspicious fires in the area, including one that tore through an abandoned house on Route 11 last week.
Slater, a Brushton volunteer for nearly four years, was released from jail Saturday after posting $10,000 bond. He could not be reached for comment.
Stickles, a recent addition to the department, was still being held on $5,000 cash bail or $10,000 bond Saturday afternoon.
Barse said his department of about 24 volunteers won't be impacted by the pair's arrest in terms of fire response and safety, though he fears the morale of his firefighters will take a slight hit by the recent allegations.
"It's a bad reflection, or will be perceived as a bad reflection, on our department, but we did everything we could. But we can work through this, we have a strong group of volunteers and we'll get through it."
Republished with permission from The Press Republican
