Fire in the Fort Worth sky

A storm hit the Dallas-Fort Worth area of Texas on Tuesday night, bringing lots of thunder and lightning with it. According to the Dallas-Fort Worth NBC affiliate, lightning blew an electrical substation east of downtown, resulting in a chain-reaction of an undisclosed number of transformers blowing, producing an eerie light show that was reportedly captured on video by a Fort Worth CPA and amateur photographer named Brian Luenser from his 34th floor condo.

The video shows hundreds of explosions varying in color, including blue, green, red, and purple.

The Star-Telegram reports that more than 300 cloud-to-ground lightning strikes occurred in Fort Worth from 8:00 PM to 10:00 PM. At approximately 9:00 PM, these events prompted calls to police by residents who were reporting “fireballs,” both in the sky and on the ground. The video recorded by Luenser was reportedly shot between 9:30 PM and 10:00 PM.

Bob Ray Sanders, a columnist for the Star-Telegram, witnessed this event, and he stated, “I’ve seen lightning strike, and this was no lightning.” He further described, “I saw fire in the sky and on the ground . . . I saw 10 or 12 explosions. It was like someone was dropping bombs.”

The first thing I think of when I hear the description of “fire in the sky” is the book and movie by the same name: Fire in the Sky—the story of Travis Walton who was allegedly abducted by extraterrestrials.

While some who have watched the video of this light spectacle have commented that the lights are reminiscent of scenes from Hollywood movies like Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Skyline, others have gone gone further, suggesting this light show was caused by extraterrestrials. At various points in Luenser’s video, multiple white lights (or “orbs,” as some have called them) appear in the sky as the explosions of light occur below. Some have speculated that these may have been UFOs, but the lights could simply be lens flare resulting from the extremely bright explosions.

Jaime Molina, a representative from local power company Oncor, told the local NBC affiliate that approximately 4,000 customers in the area lost power following the incident. He didn’t know the number of transformers affected, but he expected that power was restored “very quickly,” as the electrical system is designed to switch to another substation automatically.