by Sarah Craighead Dedmon 

Wearing yellow hardhats, workers at Maine Wild Blueberry filed calmly out of their building as a siren wailed above it, kicking off an emergency response exercise that drew 30 state and local agencies to Machias on Monday, May 8.

“This exercise was a continuation of our preparedness for not just [an ammonia leak] but any kind of emergency that could happen at the plant or within our community,” said Maine Wild Blueberry Environmental Coordinator Daniel Bowker, who also serves as the Marshfield Fire Chief.