Ex-chief pleads in 2005 barn fire

By Ed Runyan

The former chief said of his plea agreement: ‘I’m moving on to bigger and better things.’

CANFIELD — Brian T. Hughes, the former Springfield Township fire chief, has pleaded no contest to a charge stemming from a 2005 barn fire.

Hughes was charged last year with a fourth-degree misdemeanor, accused of using the 911 system to report a nonexistent emergency.

But on Wednesday, before Judge Scott D. Hunter of Mahoning County Area Court in Canfield, Hughes pleaded no contest to a lesser charge of disorderly conduct.

Judge Hunter found him guilty and ordered Hughes to pay a $100 fine plus court costs.

Hughes resigned as fire chief Feb. 13 after township trustees reduced his position from full- to part-time in January.

Beaver Township Police Chief Carl N. Frost, who investigated the allegations, has said Hughes ordered Springfield Township Fire Capt. Charles Gossard to tell a barn owner to make a fake 911 call for a controlled burn of a barn containing asbestos and tires April 25, 2005.

Permits are required for controlled burns, Frost said. No permit would have been issued for the barn, however, because of the asbestos and tires, Frost said.

After his hearing Wednesday, Hughes said he agreed to the plea agreement because, “It’s time to move on. I’m moving on to bigger and better things.”

Hughes said he could not afford to live on part-time wages. He declined to discuss his employment plans.

Hughes, 50, of Rapp Road, New Middletown, was fire chief from late 2002 until his resignation. He served as Hartford Township fire chief in Trumbull County for 10 years before that, starting in 1992.

Frost also charged Gossard with making false alarms, a first-degree misdemeanor. The charge was dropped Aug. 3, 2007, in Canfield Area Court.

Jeffrey A. Schultz, 45, the owner of the Garfield Road barn that was burned, also was charged in 2005 with making a false alarm, but that charge was dropped in 2006 in exchange for his cooperation with the prosecution.

Springfield Township trustees suspended Hughes for 90 days last October, but he appealed the suspension to Mahoning County Common Pleas Court. He dropped that appeal Feb. 20, as part of an agreement he reached with the township that included his resignation.

The agreement also required the township to remove all disciplinary documents from Hughes’ personnel file and to refrain from discussing the matter with any future employers. The parties also agreed to drop any lawsuits or future actions against each other.

Hughes’ position was downgraded in January to part time with no benefits from a full-time position paying $41,130.

Trustees imposed the 90-day suspension after a hearing Oct. 10 in which they found Hughes guilty of several charges in connection with the barn fire.

Trustees said Hughes was guilty of unauthorized use of township equipment, willful neglect of duties, giving a false statement to a township police officer, directing the fire be reported as an emergency, failing to obtain necessary permits for the burn, violating environmental laws, failing to supervise subordinates and unnecessarily endangering the public and emergency personnel by failing to inspect the property beforehand.

runyan@vindy.com