MADISON – The contractor that cut into a gas line underneath downtown Sun Prairie — resulting in an explosion that leveled a city block and killed a firefighter — was not registered to do business in Wisconsin, according to Department of Financial Institutions records obtained by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
- RELATED: TDS Fiber construction to resume Monday, July 23
- RELATED: Charges possible soon in downtown explosion
The Journal Sentinel confirmed Thursday that Michigan-based VC Tech, Inc. was hired by Kansas-based Bear Communications to help install new fiber optic cable lines in the Madison suburb of 30,000. Bob Nenno, a spokesman for the state Department of Financial Institutions, said businesses must register with his agency in most cases but no one checks if businesses aren’t filing when they should, Molly Beck reported.
“We are a filing office, with no enforcement or investigatory authority over an entity who either does or does not choose to ‘register’ their business with us,” Nenno said in an email to the newspaper. “If an entity is operating in Wisconsin, contrary to law, it would be a legal matter handled outside of this agency.”
