Norwich ― The long-running dispute over fire services erupted again Monday with a nearly 90-minute heated debate prior to the City Council’s 4-3 vote to approve an ordinance that mandates the city’s paid and volunteer companies respond to each others major calls.

Democratic City Council President Pro Tempore Joseph DeLucia angered Republican alderwoman Stacy Gould and Mayor Peter Nystrom with a last-minute request to give a formal presentation ― with 54 panels of written text, photos, copies of letters, fire incidents and timelines ― to illustrate problems with the fire service and advocate for approval of the two ordinances.

The so-called auto-aid mandate calls for the city’s paid department to automatically respond to all structure fires and major incidents in the volunteer districts, and for a volunteer department to automatically respond to fires in the city’s paid district. The auto-aid was a key recommendation in a recent fire study commissioned by the City Council.

Gould, a volunteer firefighter with the East Great Plain department, said DeLucia made “very disparaging remarks” about the volunteer fire chiefs.

“Nobody talks about the fact that the volunteer fire service in the city of Norwich saves millions of dollars a year,” Gould said angrily. “And nobody, not one of these chiefs, not one of these volunteers out here ever goes to a call and says, ‘let’s see how we can screw this up tonight.’” Her comments drew loud applause from firefighters and supporters in the audience.

The city’s five volunteer and one paid fire chief had reached an agreement with City Manager John Salomone to start auto-aid Nov. 1. But the volunteer chiefs withdrew their support a day later after learning that DeLucia had proposed the ordinance.

DeLucia presented examples of fire incidents in which the city’s volunteer departments calls departments from as far away as Colchester, Jewett City and Montville for assistance instead of calling the city’s paid department a few miles away. In some cases, the out-of-town trucks drive past the paid fire station on their way to an incident.

“This is not about operational interference,” DeLucia said. “This is about saying that no matter what, to every single citizen and business owner, no matter what, we will send all of the resources necessary if you have an emergency.”

DeLucia said without auto-aid, the volunteer districts would not call the city paid department until a fourth alarm or later, well after calling for aid from Bozrah, Baltic, Lisbon and other towns.

“There is no good answer to that,” DeLucia said. “There is no good reason for that.”

Yantic volunteer Fire Chief Bill Eyberse responded briefly to DeLucia’s report Monday.

“President pro tem’s comments tonight do not deserve a response,” Eyberse said. “They are very one-sided, somewhat misguided and again, very opinionated in just one direction.”

Gould said DeLucia failed to mention incidents when volunteer departments responded to fires in the paid district, only to be left on the outskirts “to watch buildings burn.” without being deployed.

Volunteers say they call outside departments based on the type of incident and their equipment needs.

Arguing in favor of a second ordinance for uniformity in purchases of fire equipment, DeLucia said five firetrucks purchased in 2015 for volunteer stations ended up $400,000 over budget, with Taftville and Yantic trucks another $20,000 over budget with equipment added without prior approval by the City Council, which funds the trucks.

The two ordinances passed, with the council’s four Democrats voting in favor and the three Republicans against.

On Wednesday, Taftville volunteer Chief Timothy Jencks said DeLucia’s report contained factual errors about fire incidents claims of cost overruns.

Jencks said the chiefs will continue to meet with City Manager Salomone to improve fire services. But putting automatic aid in an ordinance will limit their ability to improve their response to incidents based on their experience.

c.bessette@theday.com