Wise County officials said they believe they have identified the origin of the loud “booms” reportedly heard on Thursday.
Multiple residents called emergency services after hearing a loud booming noise that shook their homes in the afternoon. First responders investigated the reports but found no evidence of an explosion or event that constituted an emergency, according to DFW Scanner.
Several residents remarked on social media about the sound, some of whom offered humorous remarks. Others said they had heard the noise, with one reporting that it sounded as if a tree branch had hit his house. Another claimed it had caused their back door to burst open.
“We were actually having a Thanksgiving luncheon, and we had one of the windows open, and we heard, like, a boom, two booms actually,” said Veronica Mares, a local who had been at work at the time of the incident, according to NBC 5 DFW.
Chief Deputy Craig Johnson of the Wise County Sheriff’s Office told NBC 5 that the 911 dispatchers received between 10 and 15 calls about the disturbance.
Officials said they now believe a sonic boom from a military aircraft caused the sound and reverberation.
“From anywhere from shots being fired to explosions to [a] sonic boom,” said Johnson, per NBC 5. “Out of all that, we came up with sonic boom.”
The U.S. Air Force says a sonic boom occurs when an aircraft breaks the sound barrier or flies about 750 miles per hour at sea level. One such craft capable of producing such a sound is an F-4 fighter jet.
What exact aircraft caused the alleged sonic boom in Wise County is currently unknown.
