I thought that may have been related to a meteor shower.
That’s a theory I first heard at a lecture by Jack Horkheimet at the now closed Miami Space Transit Planetrrium. He suggested that the fire was the result of a small comet that broke up or meteor shower. I forget why he believed that, but it seemed convincing at the time.
Prophesied about ahead of time by a French Catholic nun living in Wisconsin, who was told of it by an apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She said fire would fall from the Heavens.