REVERE -- A recent break-in at a liquefied natural gas facility in Lynn, about a mile from the Revere border, has Revere officials questioning security there and requesting updated emergency evacuation procedures.

Concerned by the breach of security in what is considered a potential terrorist target, three Revere city councilors have asked representatives from KeySpan Energy , which owns the LNG tank, to appear before the Hometown/Homeland Security Subcommittee on Oct. 30 to answer questions.

Councilors also requested at their Monday meeting that officials from Irving Oil and Global Oil in Revere also attend the meeting to discuss safety protocols at those facilities.

``We're five years from 9/11 , and individuals can get that close to an LNG tank. It's scary," said Ward 5 Councilor John Powers . ``It would take an awful lot for a person to penetrate that tank and cause it to explode, but it wouldn't take a lot for people who are terrorists to do it."

On Aug. 16 , two intruders cut through a fence at the LNG storage facility and climbed the tank. Lynn police are still investigating.

The breach went undetected for five days, when a surveillance tape was reviewed.

``I was astounded that something like that could happen," Powers said. ``I want to know why they don't have adequate security down there, and I want to make sure they do."

Councilors George Rotondo and John R. Correggio said they took a drive to the facility, within the past month , got as close to it as they could , and took pictures of themselves with the tank in the background. Some of their pictures ran in a local newspaper.

``We took those pictures outside the gate to show that anybody could get through . We were just zeroing in on KeySpan," Correggio said.

The councilors' point-and-shoot trip raised some eyebrows among members of the Lynn City Council.

``As for the Revere city councilors calling the press and standing there with a camera, it's none of my business what their intent is, as long as they want to make sure that nobody gets hurt by a security breach in the future," said Lynn council president Tim Phelan .

``If somebody is grandstanding, so be it, but I think we're moving in the right direction."

Since the breach, Phelan said, the Lynn City Council toured the KeySpan facility and saw the alarm system and the site of the break-in.

They also questioned the president of KeySpan Energy Delivery at their Sept. 12 meeting and drafted an ordinance that would require any LNG facility in Lynn to meet certain criteria before the annual license to store inflammables is renewed.

``They have not tried to sweep it under the rug," Phelan said of KeySpan. ``They have accepted the fact that there was a breach, that it's unacceptable, and acknowledged and admitted that what they had in place wasn't good."

KeySpan has also hired a security firm to review its security protocol and its officials are cooperating with investigators at the state's Department of Telecommunications and Energy and with a statewide LNG facility security probe ordered by Governor Mitt Romney, said KeySpan spokeswoman Carmen Fields . KeySpan did not fire anyone after the breach, but Fields said that four employees ``participated in a review/security retraining."

The facility, which has been in Lynn since 1971 , holds 290,000 barrels of liquefied natural gas kept at 258 degrees below zero and not pressurized, in a double -walled tank, all of which makes an explosion ``not very likely," Fields said.

If something were to penetrate the tank, Fields continued, the berm, or area surrounding the tank, has space to hold ``110 percent of the contents. So the possibility of it spilling over into the community is not very likely."

Rotondo said he is not convinced and believes that a catastrophic explosion could take place if a terrorist attempt is made at that tank. He said he will also ask Revere Fire Chief Gene Doherty to establish evacuation routes in the city and erect signs in case of any major emergency.

``In Point of Pines, Oak Island, or Beachmont," he said, referring to areas closest to Lynn, ``there are elderly and handicapped people . Are we going to be able to get the people out in time?"

If no one knows where the exits are, and there are no practice drills, he said, ``the chances of people getting hurt or dying are great."

But Doherty said the city already has an evacuation plan as part of its comprehensive emergency plan and that putting up signs is unnecessary. In the event of an evacuation, officers would use television, media, a reverse 911 system, and police and fire public address loudspeakers instructing people where to go.

``A massive evacuation would take hours and days , and it would be messy," he said.