By MES Dispatch Staff
The Briefing
- • A New London Superior Court judge granted the City of Norwich an emergency temporary injunction on June 4, 2026, ordering the Taftville Volunteer Fire Department to immediately vacate its city-owned firehouse at 134 Providence St. and cease use of six pieces of city-owned fire apparatus.
- • The court order was filed and approved the same day, following city allegations that Taftville failed to respond to two fire alarms at William W. Backus Hospital — a claim the volunteer department had not publicly addressed as of the time of publication.
- • City Manager John Salomone and Fire Chief Sam Wilson stated the city does not intend to permanently remove Taftville volunteers, and that a written compliance agreement — requiring firefighters to follow the chain of command and a code of conduct — would allow them to return to the station.
- • Taftville Fire Chief Timothy Jencks said he had not been shown any such agreement and was preparing to remove the department’s private property from the firehouse before the court order was formally served.
- • The dispute is part of a broader, ongoing conflict between Norwich officials and four of the city’s five volunteer fire departments over a Unified Command policy established in August 2025; a hearing on a permanent injunction is scheduled for June 30, 2026.
NORWICH, Conn. — A New London Superior Court judge granted the City of Norwich an emergency temporary injunction on June 4, 2026, ordering the Taftville Volunteer Fire Department to vacate its city-owned firehouse and surrender access to six pieces of city-owned fire apparatus so that Norwich can station paid firefighters at the location, escalating a months-long dispute over a citywide fire command restructuring policy.
Judge Scott Chadwick’s order requires the Taftville department to immediately vacate the firehouse property at 134 Providence St. and prohibits members from re-entering or occupying the building without written authorization from the city. The order also compels the department to allow the city to take possession of six city-owned pieces of apparatus: a trailer, a dive truck, two fire engines, a rescue vehicle, and a tower truck. The city filed its application for the temporary injunction and received approval on the same day.
Norwich City Manager John Salomone and Fire Chief Sam Wilson said the city does not intend to permanently exclude Taftville volunteers. Wilson said the city’s legal counsel has prepared a written release that would permit volunteer members to return to the station, contingent on their agreement to follow the direction of the fire chief, report to the station captain, and abide by a code of conduct — requirements Wilson described as standard for any fire service operation. As of the afternoon of June 4, no paid firefighters had yet been placed at the station, and Salomone said he expected the court order to be formally served on Taftville Chief Timothy Jencks the following day.
Jencks said he had not seen or been informed of any such written agreement and was anticipating that his members would be fully locked out of the building upon service of the order. He said Taftville members were preparing to remove the department’s privately owned property — including furniture, appliances, and financial and personnel records — from the firehouse before the order took effect. “We’ve operated out of that building for 58 years. We’re a private corporation,” Jencks said. “As of the time we get served, we can’t walk back in without the permission of the city.” Jencks also said Taftville had filed a counter-injunction.
The Taftville injunction follows a pattern of escalating friction between Norwich officials and the city’s volunteer fire departments stemming from a Unified Command policy established in August 2025 by Salomone and Wilson. The policy created a new command structure with Wilson at the top and sought to standardize training, communications, and emergency response protocols across both career and volunteer fire services. Four volunteer departments — Yantic, Taftville, Occum, and Laurel Hill — filed suit against the city challenging the authority of Salomone and Wilson to implement the policy. One volunteer department, East Great Plain, has complied. Yantic was suspended from emergency response and had its city-owned apparatus repossessed approximately four months prior to the Taftville action for failing to comply with the policy. Taftville, Occum, and Laurel Hill were given a five-day deadline to sign the Unified Command agreement before the city moved on Taftville following the alleged non-responses to the Backus Hospital alarms.
A hearing on a permanent injunction has been scheduled for 2 p.m. on June 30, 2026, at the courthouse at 70 Huntington St. in New London.