Drones. Chinese lanterns. Weather balloons. “Visitors.” Not the kind you break out the good cookies for, either.
Those lights in the sky over Fort Smith on Monday? Anyone’s guess, until the Northwest Territories’ wildfire agency stepped in and ruined it.
Beneath video shared to the town’s community Facebook discussion group, residents described the hovering, flashing pattern made by the lights and speculated wildly on the source of the pattern.
“I believe there are beings way more advanced than we are,” one resident declared.
This turns out to be accurate, since Cabin Radio can’t fly an aircraft or control a wildfire, but air tanker pilots can. And NWT Fire would have you believe those lights are nothing more than air tankers making their way home to their Fort Smith base.
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Stepping into the conversation at multiple points where it looked like Mulder and Scully might be summoned, NWT Fire’s Facebook page stated: “These are FireBoss 802s returning from missions last night helping work SS048 at Kakisa Lake.”
SS048 is a long-lasting wildfire that has been going through bursts of activity on the south and west sides of Kakisa Lake. So far, the small community of Kakisa itself has not been threatened.
“While video from far away may suggest they are not moving, they are,” NWT Fire concluded.
“No invasion evacuations impending – just firefighters doing their jobs.”
