"The idea for these soft bombs apparently grew out of a training accident in souther California. Military aircraft were dropping chaff - hundres of metallic s

"The idea for these soft bombs apparently grew out of a training accident in souther California. Military aircraft were dropping chaff - hundres of metallic strips used to confuse enemy radar. An airplane released its chaff near a power switching station and many of the strips fell onto a power switching station, blacking out a large area of Orange County." - Weapons of Mass Casualties and Terrorism Responce Handbook - Charles Stewart MD FACEP https://books.google.com/books?id=7ZnXZfwWwgcC&pg=PA221&lpg=PA221&dq=Blackout+Led+to+Weapon+that+Darkened+Serbia&source=bl&ots=NBu5t2mURB&sig=p3sF_g0mbMyuobFIOOa3-1Ss0SY&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwilnbHV8I_OAhVIbB4KHXHjD3kQ6AEIKzAC#v=onepage&q=souther%20california&f=false https://books.google.com/books?id=7ZnXZfwWwgcC&pg=PA221&lpg=... referencing a Boston Globe article: May 4th 1999 page A27 --- I recall reading of another accident, but can't easily find the source.