Is 811 enough? Locator error kills 5-year-old boy

On April 9, 2025, the evening quiet in the small community of Lexington, Missouri, was shattered by a gas explosion. The blast killed 5-year-old Alistair Lamb in his own home and sent his father and 10-year-old sister to the hospital in critical condition. 

Five days earlier, digging subcontractor Alfra Construction, LLC had taken the required precautions. The company called Missouri 811 and requested that all buried utilities at the work site be marked. Two days before the explosion, Liberty Utilities, the gas operator, had sent a locator to the site and reported that marking and flagging were complete.

The marking was not complete.

The section of buried gas main that Alfra’s drill struck was completely unmarked during Liberty Utilities’ locating process. As a result, the crew had no way of knowing a gas line lay directly in their path. 

After feeling the drill strike an object and smelling natural gas, the crew immediately called 911 and Missouri 811 to report the damage. First responders and Liberty Utilities personnel soon arrived at the scene, but efforts to isolate the leak by squeezing off the gas main soon failed. While a nearby business was evacuated, homes within the 80- to 160-foot damage radius were not. Alistair Lamb and his family were in one of those homes when the explosion occurred.

Alistair’s death, his family’s injuries, and the trauma inflicted on his community were completely preventable. Had the gas main been properly marked, Alfra’s crew would have known to avoid it. Instead, Liberty Utilities’ incomplete marking left workers, first responders, and residents unknowingly exposed to catastrophic risk.

This explosion was not an isolated or unforeseeable event. Utility strikes continue to occur even when contractors follow state-mandated 811 laws. According to the Common Ground Alliance’s 2024 DIRT report, locator errors and incorrect/outdated as-built records account for a combined 29.56% of all reported utility strikes, a higher share than strikes caused by failing to call 811 at all. Is calling 811 enough to confidently eliminate the risk of utility strikes?

The Missouri Attorney General has since filed suit against Liberty Utilities, and an investigation is still ongoing by the National Transportation Safety Board.