Thousands of people in Ohio were left without electricity after a shirtless man climbed on top of a power station and caused an outage.

The incident took place at the Ohio Edison substation, which is located in the town of Northridge in Clark County in the Midwestern US state of Ohio, when the man climbed the substation and officials were forced to cut the power.

According to reports, he remained there for four hours before police officers could talk him down.

The power outage is said to have affected over 3,600 local residents after the man’s antics caused workers to shut off power to the substation to prevent him from being electrocuted.

Police officers, who responded to the incident after receiving reports of a man climbing over the fence and entering the substation, eventually managed to talk him down at around 3pm after four hours, according to according to Lt. Dustin White of the Clark County Sheriff’s Office.

A crowd of onlookers who had gathered at the scene reportedly clapped and cheered as police officers took the man into custody and put him in the back of a patrol car.

White said that the local sheriff’s office had asked two negotiators from Springfield police to help convince the man to come down.

He said that the man, who has not been named, had been threatening to jump off the substation and that he was also carrying a knife, which he discarded after speaking with the negotiators.

White also said that the man appeared to have light wounds on his body which he suspected had been caused by trying to harm himself. He added that the man appeared to be exhausted and thirsty due to standing on the substation for nearly four hours.

The police officer said that the man was taken to hospital to be evaluated and that the sheriff’s office would coordinate with the prosecutor’s office regarding any charges he may face.

It is currently unclear what caused the man to climb the power station. Local media reports that power was later returned to the residents.