Meteors stop forest fire firefight!

Meteor's trip across Colorado wows witnesses, grounds fire tankers

A possible meteor grounded planes fighting the Springer fire near Lake George in the Pike National Forest this afternoon, according to spokespeople for the fire-fighting team.

A Pueblo air-dispatch center began receiving reports of "balls of fire or something in the air" this afternoon, and officials grounded flights to make sure no aircraft were hit , fire team spokesman Ron Roth said.

lanes were allowed to resume flights about 90 minutes later.

"We don't have to determine what it is, just that it's safe to fly at this point," he said.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command based at Peterson Air Force Base in El Paso County doesn't think whatever fell was man-made.

"We have no indication anything manmade entered that area." said NORAD spokesman John Cornelia, adding, "We have no information as to what this might have been."

The incident near the fire was first reported near Badger Mountain, a 11,294-foot peak in Park County along U.S. 24, about 40 miles west of Colorado Springs.

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