By Terry Karkos,Staff Writer

ROXBURY – New Roxbury Fire Chief James Theriault attended his first regular Roxbury selectmen’s meeting Monday night.

Theriault, 56, who’s also Mexico’s police chief, was appointed to the firefighting role on Nov. 23 at a special selectmen’s meeting.

His predecessor, Gordon Touchette, Roxbury’s fire chief for 15 years, retired after a 50-year firefighting career, most of it in New Jersey.

Known now by Roxbury firefighters as “Two Chiefs,” Theriault said he is one of the few police chiefs in Maine who has graduated from both the state fire and criminal justice academies.

“I’ve never been a fire chief before. But I did it because no one else wanted it, and the Fire Department was in jeopardy of losing their grant for a new firetruck, and I want to try to get some stability back in the Fire Department,” he said.

Additionally, Theriault, who lives on the Roxbury Pond side of town and runs a campground there, said Roxbury selectmen are aware that his police chief job comes first.

Earlier this year, internal squabbles between the Fire Department and selectmen left the department acting like a light switch – on again, off again.

Now, thanks to a federal grant, the voters and matching money from the town, Roxbury’s new firetruck is scheduled to arrive in March. But at Monday night’s meeting, Theriault said it could arrive as soon as next month.

That’s why the department has been training with Byron firefighters, learning how to operate their new firetruck. Roxbury’s was modeled after that one.

He said the town has 12 firefighters, but only half are trained. However, of the 12, none is yet qualified to enter a burning building.

“But we are working on that. We are fortunate to have Byron, who assists us, and Mexico and Andover, who assist us,” Theriault said.

The new chief may also be the only one among them who has had his hepatitis B shot, enabling him to work accident scenes.

He said he is trying to set up department meetings for 6 p.m. on the last Monday of each month at the station, “so I can get to know everybody, and who knows what, including me.”

Theriault said he became a full-time Rumford firefighter in 1986 after being laid off in 1984 as a Mexico patrolman when the town cut its police department budget in half. Before that, he was on Rumford’s call force for 10 years.

Monday was also the first Board of Selectmen meeting for new Selectman Mark E. Touchette, who was voted in at a special town meeting last Wednesday. Touchette then resigned from his SAD 43 School Board seat.

He is filling the remaining three months of Selectman Tim Gallant’s term. Gallant resigned this spring.

Stephen Aldrich had temporarily filled the term until he recently resigned.