‘Large fireball falling to earth’ investigated in Oregon may be meteor, deputies say
Authorities in northwestern Oregon said Friday that a large fireball seen falling from the sky on Thursday — which was reported as a plane crash — may have been a meteor.
The Polk County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post Thursday night that deputies are “currently investigating a large fireball falling to the earth in the southwest area of Polk County,” which is west of Salem, the state’s capital.
“The fireball was reported as a plane crash and PCSO is working to locate a possible landing location and exactly what the fireball is,” deputies said.
Deputies also shared pictures of the fireball on Facebook. Those photos show a fiery, smoky object around sunset.
“There were no reports of downed aircraft,” Sheriff Mark Garton said, according to Newsweek. “We really believe it was a meteor as yesterday there was a somewhat rare meteor shower in our area as well.”
An expert in Oregon said a meteor is a possibility.
“Looking at the pictures, the best guess is that on the information that we have, it could be a fireball, a meteor,” said Jim Todd, director of space science education at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, according to KATU. “We’re still early in the game, though. We need more reports, more data, to really make the call.”
Lt. Dustin Newman, a spokesman with the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, said a local resident reported the fireball just before 5 p.m. “thinking it was a plane crash,” according to the Statesman Journal.
“But no reports have come in from the Federal Aviation Administration,” the newspaper reported.
KPTV reported Thursday that authorities were “working to figure out where the fireball might have landed and have a Life Flight helicopter flying over the area to investigate the wreckage.”
Garton sent pictures of the fireball to KATU, saying they were sent by a resident of Dallas, according to the TV station.
“I thought it was a cloud,” Blanca Torres said, according to KOIN. “Looks yellow because of the sunset.”
This story was originally published November 21, 2019 at 7:09 PM with the headline "‘Large fireball falling to earth’ investigated in Oregon may be meteor, deputies say."
