Sighting in Chambéry, April 10, 1997

During the night of 10 to 11 April, a witness was woken by a very bright white flash, followed by a noise like fireworks. Going to the window, they saw that the roof of their car, parked in the courtyard of their house, was on fire. They called the police at once. Police and firefighters came to the scene and collected samples.

The laboratory of the University of Savoie identified basalt in the samples and considered that it was probably a meteorite. A specialist who came the next day, however, expressed strong doubts. A head of the mineralogy laboratory at the Muséum d'histoire naturelle in Paris, after examining a few fragments, also ruled out a meteorite fall. The SEPRA, once alerted, collected three samples for analysis in Tours. The CNRS central laboratory at Solaize later found sodium, magnesium, potassium, sulphur and carbon in the samples, elements generally found in marine or ground-based rockets and flares. This definitively excluded a meteorite.

The GEIPAN classified the case A: the vehicle fire was caused by a ground-based rocket. The vehicle's owner had filed a complaint with the police, but the police log entry was never sent to the SEPRA. With no direct testimony and no access to the witness, the GEIPAN did not carry out an investigation itself. It publishes the case nonetheless because of the substantial work done. It also notes that direct access to the witness would very probably have helped focus and make better use of the investigative effort.