SUBJECT: UPI, FIREBALL OVER THE U.S.                         FILE: UFO1250   

 
     4  01-20-89 11:42 pes
 
(complete writethru _ reports of fires in arkansas)
   COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (UPI) _ A streaking object, probably a
Soviet rocket body re-entering the atmosphere, left a fiery trail across
the night sky Friday, and falling debris may have caused two fires in
Arkansas, authorities said.
   The object, which prompted thousands of calls in several states,
entered the atmosphere across the central United States shortly after 7
p.m. MST, going from southwest to northeast, officials at the North
American Aerospace Defense Command said. There were reports from people
in Texas, Missouri, Tennessee and Arkansas who had seen the flaming
object.
   "Our best estimation is that it was the re-entry of a Soviet
rocket body associated with a launch that took place last year," said
Commander Dugald Gillis, a NORAD spokesman.
   Authorities in rural northwestern Arkansas reported two mysterious
fires possibly caused by the space debris, and some Washington County
sheriff's deputies reported the object passed over their heads.
   "We didn't locate any actual debris," said Sheriff's Sgt. James
Cantrell, who did not see the object, but collected reports on it. "We
had a couple of fires mysteriously started, but it being dark, we didn't
locate anything. We'll probably go out tomorrow morning and look over
the area."
   Sheriff's officers and volunteer firefighters rushed to the fires
to check out reports of a possible small plane crash in the rural area
about 4 miles southwest of the town of West Fork, Cantrell said.
   "Some of the deputies reported seeing it, so did some of the
firemen and ambulance personnel. While they were standing around, this
object went over," Cantrell said.
   Reports of the distance varied with some deputies and firefighters
saying the burning object came as close as 200 yards and others saying
it appeared to be a couple of miles above the ground.
   "Everybody said it looked like a rocket and had a blue-green fire
from the tail of it," Cantrell said of the 10 to 15 sightings reported
to his department. "They could tell it was a rocket. They knew it
wasn't a meteor or something. It had a cone or cigar shape."
   The debris apparently started two small fires in the rural area,
each about 100 square yards in size, Cantrell said. The nearest house
was about a half-mile away.
   In Texas, thousands of people telephoned radio and television
stations after sighting the object flash across the northeastern sky.
   A control tower operator at a Dallas airport, Love Field, said a
pilot sitting in his plane on the ground informed the tower he had seen
the object and that it resembled a meteor fireball.
   
              
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