Fireball over West Valley City, UT

The report, as filed

Saw 4-5 reddish lights to the southeast go up from ground level and continue on to the north/northwest while increasing in altitude. There was a 'flickering' pattern to the lights, almost like one would expect with a Chinese Lantern. This flickering effect caused some color change between red, yellow and bluish hues. At first I simply thought these were lanterns, but after thinking about out a while I realized there are some real problems that would likely rule out lanterns. The most significant problem is that the distance they covered in a relatively short amount of time would indicate that they were traveling at a rate of speed comparable to that of an aircraft at landing speed. The surface level winds are indeed out of the south at the moment which would explain trajectory but not the speed. Current surface winds are only at 4mph. The lights traveled in north/northwesterly direction for about 3-5 minutes, eventually ending up due east of my location. All 4-5 lights eventually dimmed and then disappeared completely as they gained altitude.

Held as-reported from National UFO Reporting Center (record NUFORC #117100). Witness text is preserved verbatim, including its spelling; nothing is edited beyond formatting.