CALAIS – Downeasters believe that a terrorist attack here is about as likely as 12 feet of snow on the 4th of July.

Except now.

For the past three months a group of federal, state and local emergency personnel have focused on that topic along with other logistical issues in preparation for the 2004 celebration.

And security will be in place because dignitaries such as Secretary of the Interior Gail Norton and senior Canadian officials plan to attend.

Security includes spy planes overhead and the U.S. Coast Guard patrolling the shores.

Festivities kick off on Friday, June 25, with opening ceremonies and end 10 days later. For the past eight years this border community, along with officials in St. Stephen, New Brunswick, have been planning a massive party to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the settlement of St. Croix Island.

In 1604, French explorer Pierre Dugua Sieur de Mons and geographer Samuel de Champlain, along with more than 70 men and boys, sailed from France to the New World. They settled on St. Croix Island where they built a settlement. A harsh winter killed half the men and in the spring the settlement was relocated to Port Royal, Nova Scotia.

“For several months now we have been meeting with the different committees from the St. Croix festival as well as with all the other emergency services, both state, local and federal for the whole region and we have come up with a plan to respond to any emergency that would happen during this event,” said Fire Chief Danny Carlow.

The event has been designated an “International Training Incident,” but emergency personnel are deadly serious about what they are doing.

“We have exercised the hazardous materials teams on both sides of the border which includes the National Guard unit that we trained with here a couple of years ago to monitor chemicals,” he said.

For the first time in a long time, the St. Croix Valley will be patrolled on the ground, in the air and on the water. “The International Air Units will be flying over, patrolling the area during the events with special monitoring planes,” he said.

Carlow would not confirm that spy planes also would be overhead. “There are some very sophisticated pieces of equipment being used and tested during this event and those assets are available to us.. It might not be a good idea to sunbathe nude in your back yard this weekend,” he added with a chuckle.

In addition, the Canadian, French and U.S. navies also have been a part of the planning. Ships from those three countries are expected to be part of the ceremonies.

A central command center will be set up, although Carlow would not identify where it would be based. “You want to keep people as informed as much as possible, but there are just some things you don’t want people to be aware of. Because if the general public is aware of it, then the people out there who would like to do harm are aware of it,” he said.

Since Sept. 11, Carlow said, communication has been a key issue in this country. “One of the things that came out of 9-11 … was the inability of them to communicate back and forth between the different organizations and that has been a goal of Secretary Tom Ridge of Homeland Security is communications inner-operability, and this is a test of that system,” Carlow said.

Although terrorism is on everyone’s mind, Carlow said he believes the biggest problem the emergency response team will face will be traffic. More than 10,000 visitors are expected.

Calais Police Chief Mike Milburn said he planned to have additional police officers on duty over the weekend along with officers from the Maine State Police and Washington County Sheriff’s Department.

The police chief recommended that local people use side streets to get around the city on Saturday. “All traffic going to Canada through the Milltown Bridge may need to use the breakdown lane if the traffic is congested [on North Street],” he said.

The city has two bridges to Canada, the Milltown and Ferry Point bridges.

Carlow said he felt confident that things would go well.

“At this point we will just react to what happens like we do on a normal day to day event,” he said. “We feel that the major problems will be just traffic issues and possibly more ambulance traffic because of the increased number of people.”