New Castle News
UNION TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A Union Township firefighter and three others are facing charges in connection with an arson on Miller Avenue in July.
The firefighter, Darrin Ray Haught, 19, of 209 Miller Ave., also is accused of setting a fire that broke out April 22 at a garage of his neighbor at 209 Miller Ave.
State police in Butler, who filed the charges, said that Haught was a volunteer firefighter with the department when fires broke out inside a house at 1237 W. State St. on July 22, and at his neighbor’s garage.
The police allege that Haught lit the West State Street fire with the three others, then he left and waited for his fire pager to go off. When he got the alert, he responded to the fire department, where he then joined the other members in answering the call.
Also accused in setting the West State Street fire are Brandon Michael Hooks, 23, of 2979 Perry Highway, Slippery Rock Township, and Jamie Michael Hooks, 19, of 1426 W. Washington St. A juvenile also is accused as one of the suspects, police reported.
Police noted in documents filed in court that a Union Township firefighter had injured his ankle while fighting that fire.
According to court papers, the fire caused extensive damage and resulted in the house having to be torn down. The house had been vacant before the fire and no utilities were connected there.
A state police fire investigator determined that the blaze had been deliberately set, and that Jamie Hooks was a suspect. When troopers interviewed Hooks at the New Castle station, he confessed that he, Haught, Brandon Hooks and a 15-year-old male had lit the house on fire using lighter fluid and a lighter. He said they put a piece of cloth into a wall, then doused the cloth with the fuel and ignited it. He told police the four tried to use the lighter fluid to set the hallway on fire, too, but they could not get the fire to “go,” according to court papers.
Jamie Hooks told police that he had gotten the lighter fluid from his house.
The house was owned by ALVF Inc. of New Castle and none of the accused individuals had permission to be inside of it, police reported.
The fire investigator determined that the amount of damage, and restitution due to the owner, is $81,939.
In the April 22 fire, troopers allege that the Union Township police department responded to the call at 209 Miller Ave., and a policeman found the door frame of the detached two-car garage was burning. He extinguished the fire with a fire extinguisher that was in his patrol car, before the fire department arrived.
The state police investigator determined that fire had been deliberately set, and collected samples of the door trim that were tested at a police crime lab. The analysis identified a petroleum-based chemical had been used.
The investigator identified Haught as a suspect and he confessed to having set the fire using charcoal starter fluid and lighter. He said that after he set the fire, he went across the street to his parents’ house and called 911, then he went to the fire station to respond to the fire, state police reported.
He said that when he went back to the scene in a fire truck, he learned the fire already had been put out, according to the court papers.
The garage is in close proximity to an occupied house, and damage was limited to about $50, police reported.
In connection with the West State Street fire, Haught, Brandon Hooks and Jamie Hooks each are charged with two counts of arson, conspiracy to commit, reckless burning or explosion of an unoccupied structure, corruption of minors, dangerous burning and criminal trespass. Haught also is charged with failure control/duty to report.
Haught is additionally charged with two counts of arson, risking catastrophe and criminal mischief in connection with the April 22 fire.
All three were released on nonmonetary bonds, pending their preliminary hearing, which is tentatively set for Aug. 25 in Central Court.
Charges against the juvenile will be by juvenile petition.
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