[Carol Costello, Cnn Anchor:] Straight ahead on DAYBREAK, threats to the nation's chemical plants. Are we protected from potential terror attacks? Plus, it's happened again and again in Florida. An Amber Alert is issued for a 12-year-old girl missing from a Tampa area motel. Also, into the wild blue yonder. A massive double-decker jet is being tested this hour over southern France. And here they come. It's a dog show with more than a few twists and turns. It's Wednesday, April 27. You're watching DAYBREAK. Good morning to you. From the Time Warner Center in New York, I'm Carol Costello, along with Chad Myers. "Now in the News," an Algerian convicted of plotting to bomb the Los Angeles airport on the eve of the new millennium will be sentenced this morning. Ahmed Ressam was arrested as he entered the United States from Canada in December of 1999. Explosives were found in the trunk of his car. In south central Afghanistan, a U.S. soldier is killed in a firefight with insurgents. A military spokesman says the soldier's unit was on patrol when it was ambushed. At least 60 people have been killed, 30 others injured in a fiery accident involving a train and bus in Sri Lanka today. Authorities say the train split the bus in half and set it on fire. And in southern France, just about 30 minutes ago, liftoff for the world's largest commercial airplane. A test flight for the new Airbus A-380. Ooh, you heard the cheers there. The passenger has the plane, rather, has two passenger decks and can carry up to 840 people. Almost a century after American explorer Robert Peary reached the North Pole, five adventurers have repeated the journey, doing it five hours faster than the 37-day record claimed by Admiral Peary in 1909. And they were led by an American woman, Mattie McNair. So congratulations to her and her team. Chad, good morning.
[Chad Myers, Cnn Meteorologist:] Good morning, Carol.
[Costello:] Hey, are you good at French?
[Myers:] Oui.
[Costello:] OK. So get ready, be prepared, because soon I will ask you to say something in French.
[Myers:] Oh, no.
[Costello:] Parlez-vous Francais? That's all I know.
[Myers:] Je m'appelle Claude en Francais. Which means my name is Claude in French. So I was called Dirt Claude.
[Costello:] OK. We'll get to that story in just a second. Thank you, Chad.
[Myers:] OK. You bet.
[Costello:] The top story this morning, though, of concern surfacing over potential terrorist targets in the United States. Just how safe are the nation's chemical production facilities? How about that large tanker truck driving next to you going into work, or trains' chemical tanks at that railroad crossing? At 10:00 Eastern this morning, the Senate Homeland Security Committee hears testimony on the vulnerability of chemical and oil plants. Say, heaven forbid, there is a terrorist strike on such a facility. Just what happens when disaster strikes, like at an oil production facility? Our Ed Henry traveled to Baytown, Texas, for a look at that.
[Ed Henry, Cnn Congressional Correspondent:] People here call this the sound of money, but it is also the sound of danger. The oil industry pumps billions of dollars into the economy of Baytown. Thirty miles east of Houston, the landscape is dotted with refineries and chemical plants, run by several corporations, like ExxonMobil. And with oil and gas lines everywhere, the petrol chemical coast is a rich target for terrorists.
[Asst. Chief Bernard Olive, Baytown, Texas, Fire Department:] We know that the wolf is at the door. It may not be making sounds or anything like that, but we know it's there.
[Henry:] Meet Assistant Fire Chief Bernard Olive, Baytown's emergency coordinator. He has 70,000 lives on his shoulders. It weighs on him. [on camera]: Do you ever wake up in the middle of the night thinking about some of the horrific scenarios?
[Olive:] Sometimes I don't go to sleep at night thinking about some of the scenarios.
[Henry:] But people here are stoic. They're used to playing and praying in the shadow of refineries.
[Olive:] The federal government, when they get here, they'll be welcomed with open arms, believe me. But until that time arrives, we have a duty to our citizens.
[Unidentified Male:] Baytown 911. Your emergency?
[Henry:] In an attack, the mobilization starts with a dispatched call to first responders and an SOS to officials.
[Gary Jackson, Baytown, Texas, City Manager:] We have a command and control meeting in our emergency operations center.
[Henry:] Everyone at this table has a role, from the police chief, to health officials who are ready for mass injuries or worse.
[James Pitcock, Ems Division Manager:] We would work with with our with Harris County Medical Examiner's Office. We'd also work with our local funeral homes.
[Henry:] They'd scramble a new hazmat truck bought with federal money, and keep in close touch with industry officials.
[Patty Fowler, Assist. Emergency Mgmt. Coordinator:] It's a partnership. We handle what we do best, and we let them handle what they do best.
[Henry:] The head of the Parks Department would have his staff direct traffic away from the disaster scene and bus people to shelters.
[Unidentified Male:] And we're able to get people out really quick.
[Henry:] Olive can't designate shelter locations in advance because he has to make sure they're not in the danger zone. He'd prefer to pick schools instead of churches, because houses of worships have fewer bathrooms. [on camera]: No detail is too small in Chief Olive's plan. He even has a veterinarian on call to deal with pets. The department would use this truck and seven others just like it to race around town rescuing as many dogs, cats and even horses as possible. [voice-over]: He's also stockpiled necessities.
[Olive:] Toilet paper, hand soap, diapers, everything.
[Henry:] No plan's perfect, but the chief is driven by a devotion to fire fighting, like his grandfather, and a love of his community that runs through his veins like the oil that runs through the pipeline.
[Olive:] I've been in Baytown 55 years. It's my family is here. My friends are here. My church is here. Everything is here. I'm one of them. And I want them to know me as a citizen, as well as an emergency management coordinator. Because a lot of times they'll tell you things over a plate of barbecue that they wouldn't tell you, say, in my office.
[Henry:] So, this, too, is part of the job, judging at a chili cook-off. And the key to sampling 31 pieces of meat...
[Olive:] Little, little bites. And lots of crackers.
[Henry:] Chief Bernard Olive brings the same no-nonsense approach to his work. As a boy, he met John Wayne, who was filming "Hellfighters" in these very oilfields. He still marvels at The Duke's swagger, and maybe a little bit of that has stayed with him.
[Olive:] Hopefully, our citizens in Baytown won't have to put up with excuses. They'll see performance. And that's what that's why I guess some people might have the added you know, thought that I might be a little rough. But I believe in performance. I don't believe in excuses.
[Henry:] Ed Henry, CNN, Baytown, Texas.
[Costello:] Stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security. In other news "Across America" this morning, Florida police are on the lookout for this 12-year-old girl who they say has been abducted. An Amber Alert was issued for Margarita Aguilar-Lopez. She was allegedly abducted by a 26-year-old man who was babysitting her at a Tampa-area motel. She's an illegal immigrant living there with her brothers. Both of her parents are in Mexico. Residents of Plainfield, Connecticut, are on alert in the wake of a massive mill fire in the area. People are being told not to touch debris from the fire because it might contain harmful asbestos. The fire in the abandoned building also caused the evacuation of hundreds of people living nearby. A surrogate mother in Phoenix has given birth to those quintuplets. You may remember that the woman gave gave back the $15,000 surrogate fee because she figured the new parents would need the money. One of the newborns has a defective heart, but the other four are said to be doing just fine. Pretty soon possessing this piece of art could get you arrested in North Adams, Massachusetts. Take a look. A city councilman is proposing an ordinance that would make the public display of such nudity illegal. But another councilman says nude art should not be censored. The Airbus superjumbo is airborne. The world's largest passenger plane finally began its first test flight within the hour nearly four months after its flashy unveiling. For more on the plane, its impact, and the enormous sendoff, we're joined by CNN's Richard Quest. He's in France this morning. Good morning, Richard.
[Richard Quest, Cnn Correspondent:] Good morning to you, Carol. As we speak, the A-380, to give it its proper name, is now flying south towards the Pyrenees, over southern France, after a flawless liftoff here in Toulouse. The plane, weighing some 420 tons, lifted off just about 45 minutes ago. The crowd cheered. And a new era of aviation history was ushered in. Now, in the U.S., no passenger airlines have fought the A-380. But two freight carriers, both FedEx and UPS, are large purchases of the plane, which will be used primarily on routes like the Trans- Pacific. So, Carol, a great day in many ways for aviation. But for Boeing, perhaps somewhat of a sad day. The 747 is no longer the largest passenger plane in the air.
[Costello:] No, it's not. So, tell us, are these planes going to be in use? I know that some companies have bought some. When can we expect as passengers to use these planes?
[Quest:] It will be interesting, Carol, because you're going to see it in certain key parts of the United States. And you're going to see quite a lot of them. For instance, in the Northeast of the U.S., you'll see them at Kennedy Airport, you'll see them at Newark, as people like Virgin Atlantic, Lufthansa and, for example, Singapore Airlines use them. Go out to the West of the country, and you will see them in places like San Francisco and Los Angeles. LAX is already spending $53 million to widen its taxi ways, strengthen the runways, build news air bridges at the terminals. Because, you see, these planes are designed for those very highly- traveled, high-density routes, Singapore to LA, New York to Frankfurt, New York to London. And that is where certainly I think in the United States you're going to see a lot of A-380s: LA, Chicago, New York, possibly Miami, certainly San Francisco.
[Costello:] OK. I'm going to ask you about cost. So how much does a ticket cost, do you think? Is it more than the normal plane?
[Quest:] Well, the idea is that more passengers equals lest cost. Absolute nonsense. What's going to happen, of course, is they're going to keep the ticket price, certainly with oil over $55 a barrel. No, I do not think you're going to see a dramatic reduction in cost. What you're going to see is greater usage of the same small amount of airspace and airports. Oh, by the way, Carol, when you want to know what you want for your birthday, an A-380 will set you back about I would think now, let me just add this I need to oh, call it around a quarter of a billion dollars, $250 million.
[Costello:] Yes. I know a lot of my friends would be able to afford that. I hope I get the planes with the minibars inside, though, and the big double beds. That would be grand. Richard Quest, live from Toulouse, France, this morning. Thank you. Why can't we be friends? That's the superjumbo question when it comes to American and French people. In the next hour of DAYBREAK, we'll be joined by the author of "The Arrogance of the French," why they can't stand us and why the feeling is mutual. From the Iraq war to freedom fries to French wine boycotts, we'll take a look, a frank look at Franco-American relations. But we'll also have our tongues firmly planted in our cheeks. Chad, that brings us to our DAYBREAK e-mail "Question of the Day." France, why can't we be friends? Or, we also have it in French go ahead.
[Myers:] Or, we could say "ou" for "or." En Francais, pourquoi ne pouvons-nous pas etre des amis? Carol.
[Costello:] Let us know what you think. That was beautiful. Let us know what you think DAYBREAK@CNN.com. That's DAYBREAK@CNN.com. Still to come on DAYBREAK this hour, making a splash. That's what safety officials want your kids to do safely. Also, a desperate plea for help from the trunk of a car. Now police are asking if they could have done more. And find out why this actress is getting panned for her performance off the screen. Oh, I'm sure you've heard what she said by now. But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Wednesday morning, April 27.