MTA ERUPTS OVER `VOLCANO' : TRANSIT OFFICIALS BURNED UP ABOUT FILM'S SUBWAY SCENES.

Byline: David Bloom Daily News Staff Writer

Already burned by its controversies below ground, the MTA is not about to let a Hollywood thriller turn its tattered reputation into toast on the coast.

The embattled Metropolitan Transportation Authority is giving two thumbs down to ``Volcano,'' a disaster film scheduled to premiere April 25. In the movie, lava bubbles up in the mid-Wilshire District, and carnage flows through Los Angeles.

Before the molten menace is dammed, it flames MacArthur Park, the Museum District - and the Metro Red Line subway.

Ouch, says the MTA.

``It's just so far-fetched,'' said MTA spokesman Mark Littman. ``It reinforces the perception that tunnels are not safe. You're safer in the tunnels than above ground.''

Sensitive to any criticism - real or fanciful - about its subway, the MTA issued a press release this week quoting a U.S. Geologic Survey scientist who notes that Los Angeles has been volcano-free for, oh, the past 11 million years.

``When it comes to gambling, the odds of a volcano popping off here in our lifetime are not very good,'' said USGS geologist Brett Cox. ``We can pretty confidently say there won't be any in the foreseeable future.''

The MTA actually helped in the movie's production, advising on the script and reaping $13,000 in location fees for a couple of days of shooting.

But the movie's release this month comes at a bad time for the agency, which has experienced a death during construction, a sinkhole and other problems building the subway.

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Photo

PHOTO (color) Fire spreads through the Los Angeles subway system in a scene from the movie ``Volcano.''