The explosion leveled the duplex. Authorities suspect a man using a backhoe to dig in the yard, hit a natural gas line and sparked the explosion. The identity of that man has not yet been released.
James R. Davis, the 71-year-old man who died in the explosion, was the owner of J.R. Davis Excavating, 2750 S. Limestone Street.
The explosion ripped into the homes on either side of the duplex. That’s when the other five people were hurt, police said. The conditions of those injured, including three children, were unknown as of late Wednesday afternoon. One of the children was taken to Cincinnati’s Shriners Hospital and the other two were taken to the Children’s Medical Center of Dayton.
No official ruling has been made on Davis’s death, according to the Greene County Coroner’s office. Davis’s body was found buried in a hole, beneath a cement wall. The wall was part of the duplex’s foundation and apparently collapsed on Davis during the explosion, obscuring him from those searching for victims.
Davis, of 2750 Springfield-Jamestown Road, was listed as the corporation agent for Davis Paving Co., Inc., which carried the same address as Davis’s residence, before the company’s articles of incorporation were cancelled in 1991 for tax issues, according to online documents filed in the Secretary of State’s office.
A Dayton Daily News search of the Secretary of State’s online records did not reveal a business listing for J.R. Davis Excavating.
The city did not issue any water and sewer or right-of-way permits for digging at the Wayne Drive address, according to James Sawyer, city engineer.
“Normally, any work that’s done in the public right-of-way, including water or sanitary services to a building, requires a permit from the engineer’s office,” Sawyer said earlier this week. The permit tells the city what work is being done and by whom.
Normally, a contractor registered with the city would stop in the engineer’s office to make sure a permit was filed before doing work on the weekend, Sawyer said.
No one did that in this case.
It’s not clear if Davis was doing any of the work or just watching.
Chase Kelley, a spokeswoman for the local gas utility, Vectren Corp., said earlier this week that the tragedy might have been avoided if the men doing the work had followed the proper procedures.
“We’ve looked at our records ... and we have found that it seems these contractors did not follow the call-before-you-dig process,” said Kelley, referring to the 811 Call Before You Dig service number.
Sawyer added that when contractors call the 811 number and report their work, an alert is sent out to representatives of companies who have utilities buried underground. Those companies then send out workers to mark the areas where their utility lines can be found.
The law requires contractors and individuals to call the number at least 48 hours before work begins so local utilities can mark underground power lines, pipes, and cables to avoid, Kelley said.
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