Thank you for your reports to UFOS NORTHWEST. Please be advised that on July 4, 2012 MUFON, UFOS NORTHWEST and other reporting sites received numerous reports of alleged UFOs described as:
1. Orange, flickering light at relatively low altitude.
2. Drifting or ascending in a gradual upwards motion (Relatively slow, gentle motion.)
3. They make no sound
4. They suddenly disappear.
As UFO investigators we are in the business of trying to draw the most logical conclusion from the available data. Accurately judging the distance and size of light sources in the darkness is extremely difficult because we draw conclusions about size and distance by mentally comparing what we observe to “knowns” and in the dark we have few if any references.
Since you have made a report thereby initiating a follow-up investigation, I am asking that you provide the compass direction where you first observed the unknown illuminated object and the compass direction that you last observed the light(s).
I am also asking you to take a look at the YouTube links below about Chinese Lanterns. As you can see, a couple of people can launch multiple Chinese Lanterns, they can be purchased from fireworks companies, and they can be seen from a long way off:
Sky Lanterns from BigFireworks.com
Chinese Lanterns
Loy Krathong Chiang Mai (at Mae Jo) – Amazing thousands of Sky Balloons released simultaneously.
Take a look and let me know what you think. If you are still convinced that your observation was a true high strangeness event, and then let me know. There are some truly extraordinary and unexplainable events that are occasionally observed by witnesses who are in the right place at the right time; I do not believe most of these reports are in that category.
I know this may not be what you want to hear, but it is very unlikely that Non-Human Intelligence has manifested as slowly drifting orange flickering lights in heavily populated areas in the midst of many fireworks displays.
We have to apply critical analysis to maintain our credibility as investigators and I believe most of the July 4th reports are IFOs/Man-Made (Chinese Lanterns).