NUFORC Sighting 42753

Occurred: 2005-02-24 19:20 Local
Reported: 2005-03-06 16:14 Pacific
Duration: 30 minutes
No of observers: 1

Location: Coal Hill, AR, USA

Shape: Light

Follow-up to report of orange lights sighted from Coal Hill, 02/24/05.

Date of report: 03/06/05.

The acquisition of a detailed county map of nearby Franklin County enabled me to better pinpoint the line-of-sight all the way to the Arkansas River. Right underneath my line drawn on the map is an area south of Altus, Arkansas that is a wildlife refuge that borders the river.

A quick drive to that site and some slow cruising along the dirt road just a few dozen yards north of the river resulted in seeing some patches of burnt ground running along next to the road and out into the large open fields north of the road and river. It was while investigating on foot when a local driving up and down the road, and hopping out of his truck to pick up beverage cans and other trash, that I was informed while chatting with him the Army Corp of Engineers had been in the area "a few days ago"{exact time and date uncertain} either doing a controlled burn in the region or fighting the fire. The conversation was hard to follow as his truck was idling noisily and he would not stay in one place to talk with me as he moved back and forth doing his thing, picking up trash from the scorched earth, after I informed him of what was observed from my backyard on Feb. 24th, 2005 between 7 and 8 PM. And then he moved on down the road as I thanked him and left the area to move on to other spots underneath the line drawn on my map. Nothing apparently unusual was noticed in any of the other open fields near county roads between the Arkansas River and my house that intersected the line on my map.

If the Corps had been dealing with a large fire on the night of my sighting, then it would all make sense if they had been sweeping high-powered spotlights onto the columns of dense, rising smoke from ground vehicles and maybe one of their boats anchored nearby on the river. They do indeed have powerful searchlights for patrolling the river and its banks which fall under their federal jurisdiction including all tributaries and even mud puddles.

I hope this was of some help and thanks for your time.

Posted 2005-04-16