Car fire and analysed fragments after a nocturnal flash in Chambéry

Summary

In the early hours of 10–11 April 1997, a witness in Chambéry was woken by an intense white light and a rocket-like noise. He found the roof of his car, parked in the garden, on fire. Police and firefighters collected samples of the fallen material. A university laboratory initially identified it as basite, suggesting a possible meteorite, but experts from the Natural History Museum in Paris ruled that out. Further analysis revealed the fragments contained sodium, magnesium, potassium, sulphur and carbon — a composition typical of terrestrial or maritime signal rockets.

GEIPAN classified the case as A, attributing it to a terrestrial rocket. The car owner filed a complaint but did not provide information directly to SEPRA, which hampered the investigation. Despite these limitations, the case was published for the value of the chemical analyses and to highlight the importance of direct access to witnesses.