By Daniel Drainville
The Day
NORWICH, Conn. — New London Superior Court Judge Scott Chadwick has approved the city’s request to gain immediate access to the Taftville volunteer firehouse and its trucks so that the city can implement “emergency staffing measures” by placing paid city firefighters in the firehouse.
The city filed the application for the temporary injunction Wednesday, and it was approved the same day.
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As of Thursday afternoon, no paid firefighters had been placed in the firehouse, City Manager John Salomone said. He said he expected Taftville Chief Timothy Jencks to be served with the court order Friday.
Chadwick’s order states that the Taftville department is to immediately vacate the city-owned firehouse property at 134 Providence St. and is not to reenter or occupy the property unless it receives written authorization from the city.
Salomone and the city fire chief, Sam Wilson, explained Thursday afternoon that the city’s corporation counsel has drafted a written release that would allow the Taftville firefighters to be readmitted onto the property.
By signing the release, Wilson said, firefighters would have to agree to a few “basic rules,” including that they will follow the direction of the fire chief, report to the station captain and follow a code of conduct.
Wilson described the requirements as “nothing that would be abnormal for any fire service.”
Salomone said the city has no intentions of evicting the Taftville firefighters, unless they do not want to stay, “for whatever reason.”
But on Thursday afternoon, Jencks said he had neither seen nor heard of any such agreement and was expecting his members to effectively be fully kicked out of the firehouse Friday.
“If there’s a document out there, I haven’t seen it,” Jencks said.
Jencks said he and other Taftville members were preparing to move many of the department’s “corporate holdings” out of the firehouse Thursday night. He said this includes items such as furniture, freezers and refrigerators as well as financial and personnel records. The city owns the fire trucks.
“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. If we don’t get everything out of the building tonight, once we’re served the paperwork, we can’t go back in.”
Chadwick’s order also states that the department must allow the city to enter the firehouse to take possession of six pieces of city-owned apparatus — a trailer, a dive truck, two fire engines, a rescue vehicle and a tower truck.
The complaint for the injunction filed by the city states that the city requires immediate access to the firehouse and the trucks in order to “deploy the equipment to authorized fire personnel, maintain uninterrupted fire services, prevent deterioration, damage or misuse of city property, and to ensure compliance with municipal and state public-safety obligations.”
A hearing on a permanent injunction has been scheduled for 2 p.m. June 30 at the courthouse at 70 Huntington St. in New London.
Jencks said Taftville has filed a counter-injunction.
“The residents, the taxpayers are going to suffer, and actually, so is the quality of life in the village,” Jencks said. “All of the things that we do, our efforts in the community are going to be lost. Because there’s not going to be any of the volunteer companies.”
The injunction comes nearly four months after the city suspended the Yantic volunteer fire department from responding to emergencies and repossessed city-owned fire trucks from that department after Yantic failed to comply with the citywide Unified Command fire policy.
Established in August 2025 by Salomone and Wilson, the policy established a new command structure with Wilson at the top. It aims to standardize training, communications and emergency response protocols for paid and volunteer fire services in the city.
The Yantic, Taftville, Occum and Laurel Hill volunteer fire departments sued the city, challenging Wilson and Salomone’s authority to establish the policy.
Since then, the city has pointed to numerous alleged failures by volunteer fire departments, including Taftville, to respond to emergencies, as the volunteers have pushed back with various explanations. A little more than two weeks ago, the city announced that Taftville, Occum and Laurel Hill would have five days to sign the Unified Command agreement or face suspension.
Five days passed without any action; Salomone explained that the city waited as it negotiated with officials from the Yantic department. Then on Wednesday, following two fire alarms at William W. Backus Hospital that the city claims Taftville did not respond to, the city filed its application for an injunction against Taftville. One department, East Great Plain, has complied with the new policy.
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