ROXBURY— Being prepared in case of an emergency was the prime reason  for local firefighters touring a wind energy construction site Tuesday evening.

Twenty members of the Mexico, Roxbury and Rumford Fire Departments toured the Record Hill wind turbine site to familiarize themselves with the layout.

Reed and Reed Construction Co. of Woolwich, contractor for the project, invited Roxbury Fire Department for a safety tour of the property. Fire Chief Ray Carver, in turn, invited departments from Mexico and Rumford to join them.

“We arrived at Mine Notch Road around 6 p.m. and toured the site for about an hour in pickup trucks,” Carver said. Ted Clark, a safety officer with Reed and Reed, led the tour, he said.

Construction of the wind towers has yet to commence, Carver said.

“We saw the concrete foundations where the towers will start to be erected in August,” he said.

“They have a very extensive and well organized safety system in place,  including a helipad already established should they need a LifeFlight helicopter for an emergency.

“They said they may invite us back for another site visit in August, after the first wind turbine arrives from Searsport and is erected. I believe they will have all 22 wind turbines up by the end of November,” Carver said.

Mexico fire Chief Gary Wentzell said the company has done a lot of blasting on Record Hill and has good, wide roads for emergency vehicles to get to the site in case of a forest fire or other emergency.

“I was very impressed with the safety measures they have in place,” he said. “More than likely they won’t need our emergency support, but it is always good to be prepared.”

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