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Plano officer captures fireball shot
By Stephanie Flemmons, Staff Writer
With reports of a fireball soaring through Texas skies on Sunday morning, one Plano police officer captured a glimpse of the fiery mystery on her squad camera.
Beverly Roady noticed the fireball while attempting to perform a routine traffic stop about 11 a.m. Roady and many Plano citizens reported the blaze to 9-1-1.
Original reports that the fireball occurred when two satellites collided over Siberia have been overturned by the military. The theory now is that it was a meteorite.
“[From] this video you can tell it looks aerodynamic; it’s not twisting like debris would,” DiLulio said.
“This is definitely a meteorite. I’m estimating it’s about the size of a pick-up truck. This is a great shot.”
DiLulio is preparing to take a research team to a potential fall site based on video and various calculations. He would not reveal where that site is. He said one mystery is what direction the bolide was traveling and how fast. He said the Plano officer’s shot clearly shows it is traveling southwest.
“Several tons of meteorites fall to the earth every day,” DiLulio said. “A large one like this, maybe once a month. This one looked good because it was seen during the day when the weather looked good in Texas and people were leaving church or running marathons.”
He said most meteorites tend to disintegrate into dust before entering the atmosphere.
“My best comparison is unfortunately the Columbia accident,” DiLulio said. “It started as one big piece and it broke up and disintegrated as it entered the atmosphere, due to the friction that it creates.”
Concerned citizens across the city reported the sighting.
One man told Plano 9-1-1 dispatch he believed the flame coming from the sky was going to land in Plano. He advised dispatch to send out officers to the eastern part of the city.
Another caller reported that the flame was headed toward the west part of the city. He said he thought the flame was going to touch down west of the Tollway.
A woman leaving church was amazed with the sighting. She told 9-1-1 dispatch she believed the ball of fire was a plane that crashed somewhere in central Plano.
Plano police currently have the 9-1-1 tape in evidence.
There have been no official reports of debris or fire that touched ground in Plano or anywhere across Texas.
Contact Stephanie Flemmons at sflemmons@acnpapers.com
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