The Cold War is over and fears it engendered about nuclear war have diminished. But the state still maintains an underground shelter in Cumberland County – just in case.

Maine Emergency Management Agency Director Art Cleaves said the bunker near the state prison compound in Windham is covered by 12 feet of dirt and is well-maintained with an active communications center that would be used by state authorities in the event of a major calamity. Cumberland County’s Emergency Management Agency and dispatch center work from that site daily.

The site “is a holdover from the ’50s,” said Cleaves, noting that modern emergency planning is geared more toward terrorism than a nuclear attack.

The state also has a 1950s-era bunker in the Milo area, a duplicate of the Cumberland site, but it is used mainly for storage and is not as well-maintained. The Blaine House also has a basement shelter dating from the 1950s, but it is no longer operational, Cleaves said.