Colorado Firefighting Efforts Interrupted By Falling Meteor

A plane drops flame retardant in wildfire containment efforts in Colorado (Credits: Joe Amon/Denver Post).

Firefighting efforts to contain the Colorado wildfire known as the Springer fire were briefly interrupted on June 20 following reports of a fireball in the sky. Some witnesses thought it was space debris or a plane breaking up in the sky, while others thought it was a meteor shower.

“We have no indication anything manmade entered that area.” said NORAD spokesman John Cornelia, adding, “We have no information as to what this might have been.”

“It was an amazing sight,” said Ron Davis who spotted what he thought was “silvery space junk” during a hike.

It turned out to be a single meteor streaking across the sky. “It was unusual because meteors are seldom bright enough to be noticed during the day, although they occur as often in the day as at night,” Chris Peterson of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science told the Denver Post. Because of the unusual timing, no telescopes were active at the time, so all reports are based on eye witness accounts.

As a result of the sightings, air support for firefighting efforts was halted for about 90 minutes while it was determined whether conditions were safe for flight. Some initial reports had indicated that the air tankers themselves have been hit with fragments, however that does not appear to have been the case. Due to the fire-related activity, it has not been possible for anyone to trace the ground track of the meteor to discover if and where it made landfall.

The Springer fire began on June 17 due to an unknown cause, although use of recreational firearms in the area is now under investigation. 400 firefighters are currently involved in containment efforts of the 1100+ acre fire. As of June 21, the fire was considered to be 57% contained and some evacuated residents were being allowed to return to their homes.

Below, a firefighting plane in action on June 17: