View Video Clip of Ball of Fire:
STILL IMAGE OF BALL OF FIRE EXTRACTED FROM VIDEO.
Description: First I want to say, I do not fill comfortable writing this. On May 17, 2014. I was driving home from a get together with my friends with my seven year old son. I heard my son start to yell "asteroid." He again yelled in panic "asteroid" mom, I see a astroid. I said, no you didn't it is a plane. I couldn't see what he was seeing because I was driving. Then my son started screaming in panic "fire," "fire," "call 911," "call 911." I stopped my truck right in the middle of the road & leaned down in the driver's seat over to the passenger seat & looked out the window. I saw, wow this "huge" round ball with huge flames! I could see it close, because it was low in the sky & huge. I couldn't believe my eyes. I didn't know what to think except for the fact that it is something out of this world. My son is still screaming: mom, mom Please call 911! My son was scared I was scared & there is a car coming up in back of the truck & it's light were right up on us. I had to go. I was really close to my house. I drove right up to my yard and almost in it. I almost wrecked because I live right on the corner of the street. I was trying to turn with a car in back of me & still trying to look at this object. I was confused. I don't know how I parked, but I do know I heard my transmission grind. My truck came to a stop half way in the street & the front right up on my yard. I jumped out in panic. My son opened the door screaming. I was looking for my purse to find my cell, but couldn't think straight finally found my cell & couldn't think straight to take the lock off. Finally I get it unlocked & recorded what I could. It came from the west side of Vancouver going at a angle right on the side of my house towards Portland, Oregon. I don't understand why there is nothing on the news. It had to of landed. I was afraid to report this. I was watching the news and saw nothing. Finally I asked my neighbor the next day if she saw the huge ball of fire & she said, no maybe it was a plane on fire. I said, no I had seen it close up it was a huge ball of fire with flames. Later that day she told me she looked up huge ball of fire & meteor came up. She showed me pictures & that is what I saw.
Witness Response to Questions: I think it could have been 2 to 3 minutes that I observed the object. The video was after it passed my house. It went between the trees & I couldn't see it no more. The only trail I saw was the flames. There was no smoke. A short time after I saw the object I heard helicopters, but I couldn't see them.
Note: At the time of sighting skies were overcast. There was a scattered cloud deck at 5,500 feet and skies were overcast at 8,500 feet. Visibility was 10 miles. The object could have been a meteor, but I think this is an unlikely explanation. The video clip doesn't have the appearance of a meteor. There was no defined trail. Also given that the skies were overcast makes it less likely to be meteor and the long sighting time (2 to 3 minutes) makes the meteor explanation less likely. More investigation will be conducted. Updates will be posted.
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I am pretty sure it was a Chinese lantern, particularly with the observation of flames. What part of Vancouver was this in? I live between Jason Lee Middle School and Eisenhower. I know last week someone was releasing a large amount of Chinese lanterns somewhere around Eisenhower Elementary, between 99th ST and 9th Ave. I know because I saw them when I was driving. I also stopped to take pictures, but I knew they were Chinese lanterns. They released several more while I was parked in the church parking lot across the street taking pictures. One even got caught in a really tall tree (no fire though, so no worries). I also saw some more a few days later. Are you sure it was the 17th you saw them? I couldn’t of seen those because I was at the UFO Fest in McMinneville, but I did see them on two prior occasions last week. If it is a orange and kind of a glowing or flaming orb it is almost always certainly a Chinese lantern. Don’t worry though, many people make the mistake of thinking it is something otherworldly.
Jeff: Thanks for your comments. A good many of orange orb sightings are likely Chinese lanterns. They are a fire hazard (especially in the summertime when it is warmer and drier).