Power outage in Urbana stops football game

A power pole that caught fire and brought down power lines caused a massive outage and stopped the Urbana High School football game in the first quarter.

By 9:10 p.m., the outage, which at one point had thrown a quarter of the city into darkness on Halloween night, had been contained to the area of Boyce and Wood streets, where the call about a pole on fire originated about 7:35 p.m., Urbana Fire Capt. Mark Keller said.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation, he said. The pole burned in two, which caused the wires to touch as they hit the ground. That caused transformers to blow and the power was gone, the chief said.

That prompted the evacuation of the football stadium, where the Hillclimbers were playing Graham Local (St. Paris). Keller said the evacuation was orderly.

There was no score when the stoppage occurred. The game will resume at 10 a.m. Saturday.

A Dayton Power & Light crew is on scene, replacing the pole and repairing the lines. The outage in the area of Boyce and Wood streets could continue up to eight hours, he said.

According to the outage page on the DP&L website, nearly 600 customers were without electric service at 8:30 p.m.