It didn’t come close to Hollywood’s The Purge scale of lawlessness, but Toledo residents feared for their safety one summer night in 1979 after police officers and firefighters went on strike. The nightmare began July 2, the day after 3,400 municipal employees walked off the job. There was a threat the waterworks would be shut down. Buses stopped running after a TARTA driver was murdered during a holdup. Arsonists set several blazes, and the Plaza Hotel was firebombed.
Toledo firefighters who continued working and mutual aid departments worked hard to fight the fires, but homeowners and neighbors tried to contain some fires with garden hoses until help arrived. Many city residents didn’t feel safe from marauders – a Blade reporter wrote about being menaced by a prowler at her Old West End apartment.
In this Blade Archive photo, a resident totes a rifle as he seeks to protect his home in the Ashland Avenue-Prescott Street area. An agreement was reached after an all-night session and the court ordered employees back to work on July 3.