PORTLAND – With war in Iraq imminent, flag companies are anticipating a surge in demand for their wares.

Manufacturers and distributors were hard-pressed to meet demand after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and are bracing for a similar increase if the United States invades Iraq.

Brenda Simpson of Allen Flag and Flagpole Co. in Cape Elizabeth recently began ordering more flags. She’s also been embroidering flags with the names and ranks of soldiers stationed overseas at the request of loved ones.

Simpson’s home-based company distributes flags to businesses and large organizations, such as the Maine Turnpike Authority and Irving Oil.

After Sept. 11, individuals were lining up outside her home for weeks. She ran out of stock and for weeks, she was unable to keep anything red, white and blue on hand.

Simpson said she empathizes with those who worry about the devastation that war would bring, but is also aware of the desire to express patriotism.

“Obviously, it could be good for us financially,” she said. “But you certainly can’t put your financial benefit ahead of the human benefits.”

The Flag Center in Westbrook hopes to keep its inventory well-stocked, but it’s not clear how public opinion on a U.S.-led invasion of Iraq would affect sales, said company spokeswoman Judy Trainor.

She questioned why it should take a calamity to spur patriotic displays by Americans.

“It’s kind of frustrating that it has to take something like disasters for people to want to display an American flag,” she said.

Most manufacturers saw a 50 percent to 75 percent increase in flag sales in the year following the terrorist attacks, and sales were up about 25 percent to 30 percent in the 1991 Gulf War, according to Matt Conway, spokesman for Flagzone, a flag manufacturer in Pottstown, Pa.

“If the demand reaches 9-11 levels, no dealer in the country will be able to meet that,” Conway said.

With public opinion so mixed about another war with Iraq, Conway believes sales may rise only 15 percent in the next few months.

But Flagzone has its employees working around the clock, just in case.