No answers 2 months after deadly explosion
SUN PRAIRIE - The buzz of a handheld saw echoed in the dusty streets of downtown Sun Prairie Friday where the only movement within blocks came from men repairing siding and restoring masonry.
Before July 10, the intersection of Bristol and Main streets often bustled with families on the hunt for a pizza dinner, or happy hour revelers. Realtors and insurance agents worked in storefronts among them.
But that day an explosion leveled those destinations — killing a firefighter and destroying a city
block in the bedroom community of 30,000.
Now, workers are repairing the damage and rebuilding the city’s streets. Ground is being prepared for something new on the spot where Sun Prairie firefighter Cory Barr’s own tavern was located before the blast erupted taking Barr’s life, too.
Restaurants, shops and other businesses shuttered by the events of July 10 are reopening. And more than $300,000 has been raised for anyone affected by the explosion — the lion’s share going to Barr’s wife, Abby, and two young twin daughters.
But what the Madison suburb doesn’t have two months later is answers.
Investigation ongoing
Police haven’t released any details about why the explosion was so intense, exactly why it happened or the names of those believed to have caused it.
The investigation to determine whether the explosion was a result of criminal negligence was originally set to be complete before the end of July, but now the Sun Prairie Police Department is aiming for the end of September, a spokeswoman said Thursday.
“This investigation is still very active and fluid,” spokeswoman Nicole Vedvik said. “Once it’s complete, a press conference will be held.”
Barr died after a leaking gas line erupted in a massive fireball, which destroyed seven businesses, damaged several other buildings in the downtown area and injured nearly a dozen people.
The explosion came after workers for Michigan-based VC Tech, Inc., which was not licensed to do business in Wisconsin, punctured a main natural gas line owned by We Energies while drilling underground to lay fiber-optic lines for Verizon Wireless.
But police and utility officials have repeatedly refused to say whether the natural gas line’s location was identified for workers before drilling began — a basic safety precaution required by law.
“We were doing construction work and we hit a gas line,” an unidentified worker says on a recording of the 911 call made when the gas line was punctured. “You can hear it and smell it — it’s bad.”
State law requires workers and homeowners to call a state hotline before digging underground to notify utility owners of the planned job that will mark the lines’ locations.
Violations of such drilling rules are reviewed by the state Public Service Commission and could result in $25,000 in fines per offense, among other penalties.
A spokesman for Diggers Hotline, which accepts complaints of violations, said Friday he anticipates a complaint to be filed related to the July 10 explosion before mid-November. Complaints must be filed within 120 days of an incident.
Despite lingering questions, the downtown area continues to rebuild from what one business owner described as a “war zone.”
Sun Prairie Mayor Paul Esser said Highway 19, a major city artery, should reopen by December, a signal that the city is on its way to recovery.
“(That) says to us that we are back — we are coming back together,” Esser said.
Esser said he was not aware of the status of the investigation into whether criminal charges should be filed.
Adam Bougie, who has owned Sun Prairie’s Glass Nickel Pizza for 14 years, said he’s reopening at a temporary location elsewhere in the city and plans to build a new downtown location in the future.
Bougie was downtown when the natural gas exploded into a fire right in front of his building, and he said he still can’t believe there weren’t more fatalities.
“For weeks after, it looked like a war zone and just the fact that only one fatality and a handful of injuries is amazing,” he said. “I guess it would be nice to know the result (of the investigation) but I’ve got enough going on so it hasn’t bothered me too much.”
Esser said the city is focused on moving forward in redeveloping the downtown area.
“There is still a sadness from the firefighter that was killed, Cory Barr, we are still absorbing that,” Esser said. “I’m convinced that Cory was so involved in this community and had so much interest and seeing us taken care of, he would want to see us moving ahead.”