A single balloon release “saves” the “Skies the Limit” festival.

Thornton maintained radio contact with his ground team to track his location and tracked him to his eventual landing site in a field near Winton.

The five Airmen knew the conditions were unsafe during a Friday night barbecue they were treated to by the city. As word spread that conditions were ruining things for the second annual event, Sacramento’s Dave Wakefield and crew sprung into action and began unloading the basket and unfolding the RE/MAX balloon from the trailer and prepared to fills it.

Wakefield asked if the crowd had their cameras ready and counted down to a long burst of hot flame that drew oohs and aahs from the crowd.

“Nobody’s cold this morning,” he joked.

“Did anyone bring the marshmallows?” joked niece Kaylynn Wakefield, also of Sacramento, who assisted.

As her grandfather entertained the crowd by shooting bright flames into the dawn air, Kaylynn Wakefield reflected on why balloon festivals are so popular.

“It’s rare and unique — it’s not something you see every day,” she said.

After Thornton’s balloon left the park, Dave Wakefield remained in a basket tied to a pickup truck, holding aloft the smaller 44,000-cubic-foot RE/MAX balloon as he fielded questions from the curious crowd.

“When he moves the truck, it’s too windy to fly,” he explained from his basket.

A visitor who was curious about where Thornton might land asked how much control pilots have in flight. “We have an idea where we’re going, but we don’t know where we’re going to land until we get there,” he told her.

“I’ve landed on residential streets and in people’s front yards, and I’ve landed in big fields — I’ve never dealt with rattlesnakes.”

When asked how high balloons go, Wakefield said he once reached a height of 10,066 feet over Redding. After struggling to spot Thornton’s balloon on the horizon, Wakefield estimated that it was at least 3,000 feet above the Valley.

Wakefield decided to pop the RE/MAX bubble after explaining, “It’s getting harder and harder to get air in. The wind tries to push the side as if it were a sail”.

The hobby is not without its troubles. Last year, a rookie balloon launch from the Ceres festival landed near Keyes and burned a hole in his balloon. This type of damage can be repaired, but it is expensive.

Hot air balloon fatalities are very rare, but usually happen from drifting into power lines. According to 2022 data from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), there have been 775 hot air balloon accidents in the country since 1964, with 70 fatalities.

Thousands continued to stream down Hatch Road to the park after the single balloon floated. Those who arrived before 5:30, like Jeff and Dottie Jo Crisp of Modesto, didn’t miss the brief action.

“I came last year for the first time and it was really cool, kind of a nice local thing,” Dottie Jo said.

Helping monitor wind data from nearby Modesto Airport was pilot coordinator Melanee Scarborough of Stockton.

“What we do is monitor the winds constantly, and we’ve been monitoring the winds for the last couple of weeks — they’ve been really, really bad,” Scarborough said. “All we’re doing is crossing our fingers and hoping.”