Plant explosion victims included safety supervisor

MIDDLETOWN, Conn. (AP) — Authorities on Monday released the identities of the five men killed Sunday in an explosion at a power plant under construction in Middletown:

Chris Walters, 48, of Florissant, Mo.

Walters was the safety supervisor for Keystone Construction, the power plant's electrical contractor.

"He was the one who made sure everyone was in compliance with OSHA, using their safety equipment, wearing their steel-toed shoes," his widow, 45-year-old Fran Walters, told the Associated Press on Monday. "If you weren't, he'd write you up, and you'd be off-site until you complied."

Walters had told his wife that a purging of one of the plant's gas lines had gone well Saturday, and a second was planned Sunday. The explosion took place during that "blow-down."

"I knew in my gut that something was wrong," Fran Walters said Monday. "He would always call me and tell me he's OK, but he never called."

Walters and his wife have a 15-year-old daughter, and two sons, ages 13 and 10.

Ronald Crabb, 42, of Colchester

Crabb was a member of the Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 777 and was the general foreman on the construction project's instrumentation, his brother Carl Crabb told the News-Tribune of LaSalle, Ill.

He lived with his wife, Jodi Thomas, and their two sons in Colchester.

"Honestly, he (Ronald) was a real fighter for workers' safety," Carl Crabb of Spring Valley, Ill., also a pipefitter, told the newspaper. "If he thought anything was wrong, he would have stopped the job."

Raymond Dobratz, 58, of Old Saybrook

Dobratz, 58, was a plumber and pipefitter.

He and his wife had three sons. One of them, David, also had worked on the plant, but was not there Sunday.

Police Chief Michael Spera says Dobratz served the town for more than 30 years as a Little League coach, Parks and Recreation commissioner and police commissioner, a position he held from 1998 to 2009.

Roy Rushton, Hamilton, Ontario

Rushton, 36, was a journeyman mechanic from Hamilton, Ontario. He was supervising the installation of insulation at the construction site, according to the Hamilton Spectator.

He had left Hamilton for Connecticut just one week ago, the newspaper reported.

He leaves behind a wife and a 4-year-old daughter.

Peter Chetulis of Thomaston, Conn.

No further information was available.

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Associated Press writers Pat Eaton-Robb in Hartford and Cheryl Wittenauer in St. Louis contributed to this report.