By Casey Ross
The Boston Herald
Copyright 2006 Boston Herald Inc.

Emergency responders to a terror attack on MBTA subway tunnels would still be crippled by radios muffled by static and cut off from incident commanders as they faced murky chaos beneath the ground, according to an alarming new report.

Five years after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, a review by a key legislative committee has found that communication between police, fire and EMS officials remains dangerously fragemented, with agencies unable to talk instantly underground.

"It is alarming that we still lack inter-operability among our fire, police and emergency management divisions," said state Sen. Jarrett Barrios, chairman of the Legislature's Public Safety Committee. "We are not ready for an attack on our subways."

The committee is expected to release a report within the next few weeks that details shortcomings in the state's ability to repsond to mass transit attacks. The report, details of which were released to the Herald, was commissioned after the London terror bombings that killed 52 people last summer.

T officials who have discussed the report with Barrios (D-Cambridge) and others say they are already in the midst of an unprecedented effort to upgrade emergency communications. During the next 18 months, the T will install new digital equipment that will allow instantaneous communication between police and fire officials across the region.

"What we want is a radio clipped to the belt of every first responder that will allow them to speak within the tunnel and above ground to everybody incident commanders deem necessary," T General Manager Daniel Grabauskas said yesterday.

Grabauskas said the T has earmarked $18 million to upgrade underground communications hardware and buy digital radio equipment that can link a slew of agencies. The equipment, which is currently being tested, will be rolled out in phases, with the Boston Fire Department being connected first, followed by state police, Boston police and a slew of municipal departments from Cambridge, Somerville and throughout the area.

Currently, those agencies can communicate only internally and sometimes only on lines muffled with static and dead spots.

Public safety officials said the limited communication doesn't present problems for routine incidents, but it would likely cause significant problems in the event of a coordinated attack. In the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks and the London bombings, first responders encountered significant communication problems that hindered frantic efforts to diagnose the damage and quickly react.

"The smaller incidents we handle routinely, it's a larger incident . . . where a breakdown would occur," said Cambridge Fire Chief Gerald Reardon, who said he has been impressed with the progress to upgrade the subway equipment.

"This is the first time in 30 years I've seen this level of cooperation," he said.