Newspaper article from our research archive:

REWIND; THE NIGHT THE LIGHTS WENT OUT IN PIQUA

Where were you when the lights went out, when 98 percent of Piqua went dark?

It was 7:55 p.m. Feb. 15, 1980, 24 years and one week ago. I was news director at WPTW radio and a stringer for WDTN Channel 2 shooting 16mm film.

The blackout began at the South Main Street power plant when a "pothead," a porcelain insulator, exploded, causing a main transformer to burn out.

Workers battled snow, high winds and bitter cold as they worked to restore electricity. Diesel-powered auxiliary generators at the city garage in Piqua supplied emergency power to police and fire departments, and Piqua Memorial Hospital operated with its own emergency generators.

By 3 a.m., a mobile substation the size of a ...

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