Sighting in Saint-Vigor-le-Grand, November 28, 2013

At ten past noon, a woman driving heard a loud blast. Right away she saw, in the sky above a field, a large burst of yellow fire surrounded by black smoke. The phenomenon faded quickly, in under a minute. On a road next to hers, another person appeared to have been looking in the same direction of the sky at that moment. No other testimony was collected.

The investigation found that the sequence described (a detonation, then a bright fire-colored glow with a black cloud, all very brief) matches what a detonating and/or flare rocket fired from a blank pistol produces. The origin of the launch could not be determined. It may, however, have been fired by the person on the neighboring road, who was also looking at the sky. GEIPAN therefore classified the case as B, probably a flare.