Hank Investigates: Secret Shelters

They're underneath bulkheads, down darkened stairways, behind creaking doors and at the end of echoing halls.

Hank Philippi Ryan
"Do you think anyone knows this place exists?"

Chelsea Emergency Chief
"No."

We found fallout shelters in hundreds of buildings all over Massachusetts! Some with original medical supplies, gas masks, tins of survival crackers, and radiation detectors.

The sign says shelter at Chelsea City Hall, most of it is just this hallway on the ground floor. But there's more:

Hank Philippi Ryan
"We 're completely underground?"

Chelsea Emergency Chief
"Yes, we're completely underground."

This secret tunnel linking city hall and a fire department office was also designated a place to hide.

Hank Philippi Ryan
"So people were supposed to come down here until the danger was over?"

Chelsea Emergency Chief
"Correct."

Now, with the White House wondering if there's a new nuclear threat, these old signs may have people wondering, what's down there and should we know about it?

Hank Philippi Ryan
"If something happened would people come here now?"

Chief Alex McCurdy, Littleton Fire Dept.
"I’m not sure people remember this is a fallout shelter."

We started talking about fallout shelters in the 60’s, Cuban missile crisis nuclear proliferation, school children learned to "duck and cover," as president Kennedy called for fallout shelters for everyone.

Mark Foster, FEMA
"It assured everyone that should something terrible happen yes, there was a place for them to go."

So where are those places now? At the Mass. Emergency Management Agency bunker in Framingham, we found this list, thirty years old at least, of every official fallout shelter in the state. Schools, businesses, churches, theaters, buildings with basements were all certified back then to protect people from nuclear fallout for 14 days. But are these places still safe, secure and stocked with supplies? Because shelters are now managed by local communities, state officials have no idea.

Peter Judge, MEMA
"To be honest with you, we really have not been tracking it that closely."

In fact, when we called places on the list, we found some buildings no longer exist! And some places had no idea they were supposed to have shelters.

But in some towns, local emergency management knows exactly where the old fallout shelters are. One's in the basement of Framingham's Danforth museum. It's still stocked with boxes and boxes of radiation detectors.

Hank Philippi Ryan
"It's a Geiger counter, is that what this is?"

Chelsea Emergency Chief
"Yes."

But they're not instantly usable.

Hank Philippi Ryan
"Do your guys know how to use those?"

Chief Michael Smith, Framingham Fire Dept.
"There hasn't been any training for 50 years to the best of my knowledge."

Down in the old Needham shelter, in the basement of a travel agency, they have 200 of them!

Hank Philippi Ryan
"So what are these good for now, if anything?"

Needham Chief
"They are good for history."

More history here: crackers dated 1962, ancient first aid kits, one gas mask…and a room with infrared lighting for use during drills.

Hank Philippi Ryan
"So if there was a blackout, they could still see."

Needham Chief
"That's correct."

And we found many shelters far from safe havens.

In Littleton, the only way to tell this basement of the fire department was shelter space is this stack of rusting cots and the sign.

Chief Alex McCurdy, Littleton Fire Dept.
"The level of preparedness that they must have had back then, there is nothing of that left."

Now, it's where they keep old fire truck parts, uniforms, and bags of Christmas decorations.

Hank Philippi Ryan
"Does this seem like the safest place in town now?"

Chief Alex McCurdy
"I'm not sure there is any safe place for nuclear warfare, but its what they designated as one. I’m not sure I would feel safe here if there were, I really don't know."

So are there shelters ready in your neighborhood? State officials say they're not even working on updating the list.

Peter Judge, MEMA
"It’s a little low priority as far as were concerned."

And most experts agree that you probably don't actually need to worry about it.

Hank Philippi Ryan
"Is there any reason to know where the nearest fallout shelter is?"

Mark Foster, FEMA
"There are very few scenarios that I can think of that a shelter would be useful."

For more information, click on the following links:
www.state.ma.us/mema
www.fema.gov
Boston Area Civil Defense Sites