Fire in Defunct Norwich, CT, State Hospital Building Doused

This is the second fire this year at the former mental institution in Preston.

Oct. 7, 2025

Jessica Bravo

Journal Inquirer, Manchester, Conn.

(TNS)

Oct. 7—PRESTON — A fire broke out at the former Norwich State Hospital Tuesday morning, making it the second fire there in a year there, officials said.

Preston fire officials confirmed firefighters were called to the long-vacant building on Route 12 around 5:46 a.m. Tuesday.

There were no reported injuries, officials said, but no further information on the fire was immediately available.

Authorities previously responded to the former hospital grounds in early July for a fire that also brought response from other fire departments in the surrounding area.

The Connecticut State Library website said patients of the now defunct hospital, which originally was called the Norwich State Hospital for the Insane, were removed in 1996 and transferred to Middletown's Connecticut Valley Hospital.