City of Billings Responds After Reports of Explosions Over Montana

Frayed nerves snapped in Montana on Friday after a social media report claimed there were explosions over Billings.

The people of Billings and other Montana communities had spent some of the week knowing that overhead, a Chinese spy balloon was watching them for some unknown purpose.  As the balloon hovered, President Joe Biden was accused of dithering by rejecting repeated calls to shoot down the object.

All of that set the stage for Friday, when a Twitter user shared a harrowing video, wherein which the user claimed that there was an explosion over Billings.

This came as Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte was being interviewed on the Fox News show “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”

“We’re monitoring the situation,” Gianforte said.

Eventually the city of Billings posted a calming message.

“We are aware of the video shared on Twitter and claims of a “massive explosion” over Billings. However, our PD, Fire & airport have NOT been called to any incidents related to this video and there haven’t been any plane crashes picked up on radar,” it posted, adding, “We have confirmed with @MontanaDES & @GovGianforte that there have not been any explosions in, around, or across #Montana. They are aware of the video and it can not be substantiated.”

The video drew a number of comments on Twitter.

Dolly Moore, who posted the video, said she looked skyward after she felt the windows shake at her Billings home, according to KTVQ-TV.

She saw what she thought was a jet in the sky, she said.

“All of sudden it was this big explosion in the sky and all this debris started slowly coming down like it was big smoke,” she said.

The video soundtrack has a loud noise, but it is uncertain what caused it.

Moore, who on Twitter insisted it was not a fake video, said at the moment, she was afraid.

“My gut instinct was, ‘oh my gosh, they just shot down that balloon. It must have been over Billings again. It must have been that spy plane,” she said.

“I was shaking. I thought, ‘oh my gosh, they just blew it up over our neighborhood,'” she told KTVQ.

This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.