The coronavirus pandemic has brought with it a level of uncertainty, fear, and social chaos most of us have never known. But at least we aren't trying to extinguish a fire engulfing a neighbor’s home.
That was the situation in early July, 1979, when nearly all of the city's services were halted because of a strike involving some 3,400 municipal employees, including most of the police and firefighters.
As one can imagine, the strike, brief as it was, lasting about 48 hours, was like a scene from an apocalyptic Hollywood blockbuster but cast with real people and with a meager budget.
In this photo, taken by The Blade's Don Simmons on July 3, 1979, the fire-fighting efforts of neighbors in the area of Bloomfield Street and Segur Avenue were mostly in vain, as they battled low water pressure and a house in flames.
A decade after this photo was taken, The Blade revisited this city crisis in a recap of the events most probably wanted to forget.
“Toledo faced a nightmare on Monday, July 2, 1979, when nearly all city services were curtailed because of a strike which had been called a day earlier ...” In fact, the story noted, “officials counted only 112 people on the job” by that Monday morning.
Without the services of police, firefighters, and other Toledo workers, it didn’t take long for basic city functions to begin to break down.
A TARTA driver was murdered in a holdup, so buses were pulled from the streets.
Sheriff’s deputies joined with police command officers to patrol the city.
Despite the fact that fire stations were blocked by picketers, fire chiefs and a limited number of volunteers battled several serious blazes with equipment they had gathered from suburban fire stations.
The fires got so bad, however, that firefighters from “13 surrounding communities, often accompanied by local police, began responding to fire calls throughout the city as part of the countywide mutual-aid agreement,” The Blade story reported.
The strike ended the next morning when an agreement was reached in an all-night session. This came after a common pleas judge ruled that heavy fines would be assessed if the strike continued beyond a 6:30 a.m. deadline.
Go to thebladevault.com/memories to purchase more historical photos taken by our award-winning staff of photographers, past and present, or to purchase combinations of stories and photos.
First Published August 3, 2020, 11:00 a.m.
