PHOENIX — A hot air balloon crashed Thursday morning near a residence in north Phoenix, officials said.
The Phoenix Fire Department responded shortly after 9 a.m. to the area of 22nd Avenue and Dove Valley Road for reports of a crash involving a hot air balloon.
Sky12 footage shows the balloon landing in an area between the sidewalk and a residential home.
Kara Giugliano, who lives in the home near where the balloon landed, watched as it came down, noticing it was much closer than other hot air balloons she typically sees.
Footage captured by Giugliano shows the light pole piercing the balloon itself.
"Once I saw the basket was fine, cause that's what I was concerned about, they were so low so that was good. But once the basket came down then I was like, 'okay where is this balloon going?'" Giugliano said.
The balloon folded down onto Giugliano's home.
"It was like a termite tent. Like it just came on top of the roof and it just covered this whole patio," Giugliano said.
Hot Air Expeditions pilot Mike England was the pilot on board the balloon Thursday morning. He said the wind shifted, which forced him to land the balloon in a different spot than originally intended. England said he was aiming for the empty dirt lot just to the west of the landing spot.
"We intended to be out here landing, just sliding on the ground here, away from the poles and houses. And this was a good spot to be in," England said. "You can see it's a large lot of nothing."
A total of nine people, including the pilot, were in the balloon's basket. No injuries were reported.
Donna Meeusen, a passenger on board, said England did the best he could under the circumstances.
"It was very smooth except for that the wind just kept taking us," Meeusen said.
A nearby street light was damaged by the balloon and SRP officials are on scene to de-energize the pole. The Federal Aviation Administration has been notified about the incident.
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What is the Valley?:
“The Valley” is what locals call the Phoenix Metropolitan Area. It is considered the largest metropolitan area in the Southwest.
The Valley is made up of various major cities other than Phoenix, including:
- Mesa
- Chandler
- Scottsdale
- Tempe
- Glendale
- Surprise
- Peoria
- Gilbert
- El Mirage
- Avondale
- Litchfield Park
- Goodyear
- Buckeye
Whether a city is in the “East Valley” or “West Valley” depends on where it is in relation to Phoenix.
The cities of the Valley have a combined population of 4,845,832 people, according to the 2020 United States Census. This makes it the 11th largest metropolitan area in the country right behind the Boston and Atlanta areas.
How big is Maricopa County?
Maricopa County is the United States’ 4th largest county in terms of population with 4,485,414 people, according to the 2020 Census.
The county contains around 63% of Arizona’s population and is 9,224 square miles. That makes the county larger than seven U.S. states (Rhode Island, Delaware, Connecticut, Hawaii, New Jersey, Massachusetts and New Hampshire).
One of the largest park systems in the nation is also located in Maricopa County. The county has an estimated 120,000 acres of open space parks that includes hundreds of miles of trails, nature centers and campgrounds.
The county’s seat is located in Phoenix, which is also the state capital and the census-designated 5th most populous city in the United States.
The county was named after the Maricopa, or Piipaash, Native American Tribe.