Charges in blast are under review

Negligence or mistake at issue in Sun Prairie

SUN PRAIRIE – Police said Monday they’ll decide within days whether to bring criminal charges against those responsible for an explosion that leveled a city block in a Madison suburb, killing one and injuring nearly a dozen more.

Sun Prairie police said they’ll decide this week whether workers who punctured a natural gas line committed criminal negligence that resulted in the explosion, or whether hitting the gas line was just “a tragic mistake.”

Nearly a week has passed since a ruptured natural gas line leveled a downtown block of Sun Prairie, a Madison suburb of 30,000, killing city firefighter Cory Barr. Police and utility officials still won’t say whether basic safety precautions were taken by workers who punctured the line.

State law requires workers and homeowners planning to dig underground to notify a state hotline, which triggers a process during which owners of utilities mark where their lines are with spray paint. Natural gas lines, for example, are marked yellow.

But officials with We Energies and police won’t say whether workers who cut the gas line took that first step.

And Sun Prairie Police Lt. Kevin Konopacki would not say whether failing to identify a utility line’s location would be grounds for criminal negligence charges.

State law requires notice of digging to be placed no fewer than three days before starting work, unless it’s an emergency.

Violations of such rules are reviewed by the state Public Service Commission and could result in $25,000 in fines per offense, among other penalties.

Konopacki said Monday he could not reveal details.

A spokesman for the PSC said the agency had not received a complaint related to the explosion.

Another detail police have yet to provide is who, or what company, is ultimately responsible for puncturing the line.

Last week, officials with Verizon Wireless told reporters their contractor, Bear Communications, had a subcontractor working at the site of the explosion but did not say whether that worker ultimately hit the gas line.

Bear Communications identified the contractor completing the work as VC Tech Inc.