Area Residents Report Fireballs In Night Sky Authorities Search For Meteorites, Downed Planes

Spokane and North Idaho authorities spent Thursday night searching for downed planes and crashed meteorites after numerous residents reported seeing fireballs streak through the night sky.

At least eight people reported seeing a ball of flames hurtle into Hayden Lake, said Hayden Lake Police Chief Jason Felton.

Spokane County residents reported seeing a fireball in the Valley and Fairfield areas as well.

Bill Hodge was sitting in his living room near Hayden Lake when he saw the flames streak by about 7:10 p.m.

“I saw a fireball with a 200-yard tail,” Hodge said, as fog slowly enshrouded the lake.

“The fireball was a white hot fire with a blue fire in the center. It had a boom when it went in.”

Hodge wasn’t sure whether it was a plane or a meteorite but said it appeared to crash into the water at the north end of Hayden Lake.

One Hayden Lake resident reported smelling fuel after seeing the fire ball land in the lake, Felton said.

Kootenai County sheriff’s deputies searched the dark lake by boat.

“If there’s an airplane we’ll find debris or an oil slick,” said Sgt. Jeff Thomas. But, he added, “I am seriously expecting it is a meteor.”

Deputies ended their search at 10 p.m. without finding anything.

Spokane authorities faced a similar situation.

“We’ve had a number of calls from various places of something that’s orangish and looks like a ball of fire,” said sheriff’s Lt. Doug Silver.

The first caller reported a plane down in the Browne Mountain area, south of Spokane at 7:11 p.m., Silver said.

“There’s no missing plane,” said Dana Watson, an operations supervisor at Spokane International Airport.

By 7:55 p.m., deputies in Spokane County had stopped their search after finding no fires or damage that could have been caused by such an impact.

Watson said workers in the airport control tower spotted a bright flash in the sky.

“Everybody assumes it’s a meteorite or something of that nature,” he said. “It appeared to be a meteorite going in the northeast direction.”