EDITOR'S NOTE: Caution before watching the video; some of the footage may be upsetting to view.
SUN PRAIRIE, Wis. — There will be no criminal charges filed in relation to the explosion in Sun Prairie that killed a firefighter in July.
Patrick Anhalt, chief of the Sun Prairie Police Department, made the announcement on Thursday at a press conference.
Anhalt said the gas leak that lead to the explosion was caused by miscommunications between contractors and sub-contractors working in the area.
“There is not probable cause to believe a crime was committed. As a result, the investigation is now classified as inactive,” Anhalt said.
The Sun Prairie Police Department worked with the Dane County District Attorney’s Office, the Wisconsin Attorney General’s Office, and the State Fire Marshall’s Office on the investigation and decision not to press charges.
Anhalt said that Verizon Wireless had contracted Bear Communications to lay a fiber optic line that included underground work at the intersection of Main St. and Bristol St. Bear Communications sub contracted a company called VC Tech to drill for the line. Anhalt said VC Tech cut through a WE Energies Gas line. Anhalt said the line was not properly marked.
Anhalt said the error was the result of miscommunication between USIC, Bear Communications, VC Tech and a company that was at one point involved in the sub contracting called Jet Underground.
“Prior to the explosion, conversations occurred between representatives of each of these companies, both on and off site, during which incomplete and inaccurate information was exchanged and relied upon,” Anhalt said.
The investigation did not discover what sparked the explosion after the gas leak.
Anhalt said that Gary Hebl, a representative with the Wisconsin State Assembly has pledged to seek improvements to Wisconsin Statutes to prevent something like this from happening in the future.
Anhalt did not take questions after the press conference.
Sun Prairie’s mayor, Paul Esser, said he couldn’t comment on if the city would pursue any civil litigation.
“It hasn’t been discussed at this point,” Esser said.
The owner of Guimo’s, a restaurant less than a block from the explosion, said he didn’t know what to think of the decision.
“Somebody died there,” said Gustavo Martinez. ”There’s got to be somebody responsible for it you know, I don’t know I have mixed feelings about it,”
Guimo’s was forced to close for a month after the explosion.
The district’s alder said the announcement gives the community closure, even if there are no criminal charges.
“The decision is what the decision is, that’s what we were waiting for and regardless of whether it was criminal neglect we needed to hear this as a piece to move forward,” said Steve Stoker, the alder for Sun Prairie District One.
Stoker pointed out things could have been worse in the blast as gas flowed through the area. Anhalt touched on that in the press conference too, thanking again first responders who tried to evacuate the area just before the blast.
“We will never know how many lives were saved, but we do know that about 250 people were evacuated from the immediate area prior to the explosion,” Anhalt said.
