Mediation Involving Norwich, CT, Fire Departments Fails, Suspended

The dispute involving volunteer firefighters barred from responding to emergencies in Norwich and city officials insisting they come under the command of the city’s paid fire department has gotten messier through mediation.

The mediation talks were suspended Monday after volunteer firefighters said “insufficient progress” had been made to draft a contract that would allow the Yantic Fire Department to reopen, the fire department said in a joint statement issued along with four of the city’s five other volunteer departments, including those of Taftville, Occum and Laurel Hill.

The suspension comes in the wake of city officials sending the Yantic Fire Department a letter earlier this year demanding that it sign a contract to come under a unified command structure under the Norwich Fire Department. The volunteer department was suspended in February following 178 years of service after failing to agree to the contract within a time limit set by City Manager John Salomone.

At the time, Salomone said he put the deadline in place after allegedly trying for the better part of a decade to “get their attention.” At the same press conference,  Norwich Fire Chief Samuel Wilson said the dispute stemmed from Yantic firefighters not following his directives. Wilson also stressed the importance of having structure within fire operations.

“It is deeply disheartening that the volunteer departments have once again chosen to walk away from mediation,” the city wrote in a statement in response to a request for comment made to Salomone. “The city of Norwich remains willing to stay at the negotiating table in good faith, committed to reaching a collaborative resolution.”

“Our priority remains clear: an agreement that puts the safety of residents and firefighters first,” city officials wrote. “That’s why the city has offered a straightforward contract that allows all departments to continue operating, provided they meet widely recognized national safety standards. Unfortunately our volunteer departments have rejected this contract, which to date has necessitated the suspension of one department.”

“Recent tragic incidents speak to the need for a better, more unified command,” the city said. “By abandoning mediation in favor of litigation, the volunteer departments have stepped away from a cooperative path forward. While this process now moves to the courts, the city remains firmly committed to maintaining the high standards of emergency response our community expects and deserves.”

The fire chiefs from four of Norwich’s volunteer fire departments said they see things differently.

“What City Manager Salomone and Chief Wilson want is Consolidated Command, not Unified Command,” the volunteer fire departments wrote in a statement. “Since Yantic’s closure, they — along with the Norwich Firefighters Local 892 — continue to publicly discredit the city’s volunteer fire service while fabricating a public safety issue that does not exist under the current system.”

Volunteer firefighters also accused the city of changing its emergency computer system to ensure that the city’s paid fire department responds to a “vast majority” of emergency calls in areas where volunteers had historically responded.

“This unnecessary system change makes the volunteer departments redundant in their own service territories, at the expense of Norwich taxpayers,” the volunteer fire departments wrote.

They also allege that the city, its paid fire department and the union representing it have an “endgame” in mind that would involve replacing “volunteer fire service with an entirely paid, unionized career department in Norwich at the cost of millions of dollars in new expenditures to accomplish their agenda.”

In March, all four volunteer departments brought a lawsuit against the city, Salomone and Wilson accusing Salomone of violating the city charter when he demanded they come “under the direct leadership and authority of the City of Norwich Fire Chief,” the complaint states.

“Since day one, we have sought a lawful, sustainable path forward that preserves local coverage, maintains depth, protects public safety and taxpayers, and allows the Norwich community to make the ultimate decision,” the volunteer departments wrote in a statement this week. “We look forward to making our case in court.”

In response the mediation talks ending, the union representing the Norwich Fire Department issued a joint statement along with the Uniformed Professional Fire Fighters Association of Connecticut accusing the Taftville Volunteer Fire Department of failing to staff an apparatus for several emergencies the same day mediation was suspended.

“These included a natural gas emergency and a medical incident,” union officials wrote. “Just weeks prior, the Occum Fire Department had no staffed apparatus for a serious highway accident. This is a pattern.”

“These incidents demand coordinated operations with properly staffed apparatus to control hazards, protect civilians, and maintain firefighter safety,” the union’s statement said. “When the system cannot reliably deliver staffed units, every incident becomes far more dangerous for the public and responders. The city is not facing a policy debate. It is facing a performance issue.”

Union officials said the city changing its emergency response system to send paid firefighters to most calls was in response to the alleged “failures” by volunteers.

“Attempts to shift the conversation toward governance, terminology, or past referendums do not change operational reality,” the union statement said. “Calls are going unanswered or being handled by inadequate or unqualified staff.”

“Local 892 has not and has never advocated for eliminating any volunteer organization,” union officials wrote. “Our position is simple: every emergency call must get a timely, staffed, and capable response. Any resource that meets that standard is part of the system. Those who cannot must be supplemented.”

The four volunteer fire companies embroiled in a battle with the city issued a second statement this week in response to the union accusations, saying it is “unfortunate that politics have gotten in the way of an issue that is between the four volunteer fire companies and the City of Norwich — not Norwich Firefighters Union Local 892 and the Unified Professional Firefighters Association of Connecticut.”

“It has unnecessarily created a hostile work environment, and at a time when communities across the country are promoting volunteerism, it is unfathomable that the current city of Norwich leaders continue to negate, devalue and not recognize the huge financial benefits to Norwich taxpayers that the volunteer system provides,” volunteer firefighters wrote.

The volunteer departments also accused “certain city councilors” of receiving campaign contributions from PACs allegedly funded by the unions.

“It should also be noted that Local 892 members are earning significant overtime covering Yantic’s district, at the expense of the Norwich taxpayer,” the statement issued by the four volunteer fire companies said. “At the same time, most Local 892 members do not live or pay taxes in the City of Norwich, but rather, enjoy the lower costs of neighboring communities that rely on volunteers.”

“We could go tit-for-tat identifying issues with the city’s department — in fact, an independent third party study conducted in 2020 and presented in 2021 identified several and was conveniently ignored by certain members of City Council, City Manager Salomone and Chief Wilson after it was released — but our focus remains on the city’s illegal closure of Yantic and the legality of City Manager Salomone and Chief Wilson’s Consolidated Command policy,” volunteer firefighters wrote.

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