Let me start by saying the UFOs in this story are Unidentified Falling Objects; and now (as Paul Harvey would say) the rest of the story.
The cause of the fire burning in the hills above Peachland is as yet unknown, but some say it could have been the result of a meteor shower in the Okanagan.
Several residents report seeing fiery streaks in the sky around the same time as the Trepanier Creek Wildfire that started near Trepanier Linear Park Sunday afternoon.
"I was driving north up Highway 97 when
I saw a really, really bright light coming straight down, off to the right over the lake," said Philip Hare of Kelowna. "It was so close I felt like I could touch it, then it was gone. Then I heard about the fire and thought that was way too coincidental for me."
Hare reported the sighting at 3 p.m.,
the fire started around the same time.
"It was a flash of bright white, blue hot with flames."
Others, sitting in their swimming pools or driving, report seeing
balls of fire with flaming tails in the area near where the blaze began and other points to the northeast. Coincidentally or not
there was another fire that started near Falkland around the same time as the one in Peachland. The origin of that fire, is also, still under investigation.
Here are two more reports from our readers:
On Sept. 10 Petrina Hodgins sent this in, "Just wanted to tell someone that yesterday afternoon, September 9, 2012, I was in our public pool in the complex on Lanfranco Road. I was in the pool between 1:30 and 3:45. About halfway during that time, I saw, up in the sky, (I was facing eastward) a meteor or something with fire on its tail. It looked to be coming almost straight down. This is making me wonder about the Falkland fire..., and perhaps another one went down near Peachland."
At 3:23 on Sept. 9, Martin Jankowiak emailed us this note, "Have you heard any other reports of a possible meteor sighting near the airport about 10 minutes ago? We just saw what looks like a meteor and possibly impacting the ground into a group of trees."
Now the story is getting interesting.
Tom Landecker, a scientist with the Dominion Radio Observatory near Penticton, said they don't have equipment to detect that sort of thing.
But from descriptions he received it could have been meteors.
"A meteor is natural but space junk is space junk," he said. "If you are familiar with shooting stars, you are seeing a little bit of debris from the solar system, the size of a grain of sand. [Kniall: Whatever!]
The flash of light you see is 150 km above the earth, and it is possible for fragments of these things to reach the earth, but it's like a piece of rock, by the time it reaches the surface of earth
it is stone cold and it's not going to start any fires." [Kniall: Yes, believe it or not, according to official science, meteorites cannot start fires because they are always cold when they reach the ground. They clearly don't have a clue: http://www.sott.net/articles/show/251055-Meteorites-impact-ground-in-Tuscany-April-1-2012].
Landecker added that it is an uncommon occurrence, and the fact that it appears to be coming straight down is a matter of perspective.'
"Usually with the speed of these things, it's from a collision. It's largely the earth's speed that creates this relative speed."
Not everybody is ready to give-up on the idea that a UFO (Unidentified Falling Object) started the fire theory.
Natalie, a Kelowna resident who declined to give her last name, remains convinced the flaming object falling from the sky was related to the fire. She witnessed it as she drove home on Hwy. 97.
"
It was a shocking and unnerving sight because it was traveling really fast and was white with red flames," she said. "
I even said to my son if it hits something it is going to cause a fire. I really think it was related because it was around the same time as the fire." [Kniall: common sense trumps corrupted science once again]
What we know: People saw something . . . and that is all we know. Was it a meteor? Was it parts that fell off of a plane? What was it? Where did it come from? Where did it go? And what caused the fires?
___________
An hour after we published the story Jesse Wunderlich sent a letter to news@castanet.net
'I just read your news story about the UFO and fires. I can't believe it, but my wife and I were driving home from vacation and we were going through Kamloops on the way to Vernon around 3:00 on Sunday. My wife said, "what was that.
I think a fireball just fell from the sky." I made fun of her all the way home. Maybe there is something to this story. Crazy."
___________
If you witnessed the phenomenon send us the details to news@castanet.net, better yet, send us your photos and videos. We will add updates on this page as they come in.
i am just saying! 
