A hot air balloon made an emergency landing in the backyard of a home in Menifee, California, on Saturday, marking the second such incident in Riverside County this year.
Menifee resident Maryam Dandan filmed the bright blue balloon, decorated with gold stars and a crescent moon, as it descended toward the ground. She said her husband spotted it first.
“I was in this room, and my husband came in, and he looked out this window, and he said, ‘Oh, my gosh. Look at the hot air balloon,'” Dandan told ABC 7.
Dandan said the balloon appeared to be making an emergency landing because of damage to its envelope.
“It looked like it was an emergency landing. And when we got closer, the hot air balloon looked like it might have had some kind of tear,” she added.
The identity of the balloon’s operator has not been disclosed, and it is not known how many people were riding in the basket at the time of the landing.
Second Incident This Year
This is not the first time a hot air balloon has come down unexpectedly in a Riverside County backyard. In April, a similar-looking balloon landed in a yard in nearby Temecula with 13 people aboard, including Brianna Avalos and her husband, who were marking their 10th wedding anniversary.
Avalos said at the time that the pilot told passengers he needed to make an emergency landing due to low fuel and shifting winds. After the passengers disembarked, the pilot relaunched the balloon and brought it down again nearby on a public street, where it was dismantled, according to PBS.
No injuries have been reported in connection with Saturday’s landing in Menifee.
