Object on fire and then burnt out or disappeared before horizon line

I was pointing out some constellation formations appearing on the horizon...it was getting dark enough to see only the major constellations like the big dipper and the North star...my eye caught some movement and I looked up, towards the northern sky saw an object that my brain asked...(and which I said aloud...which is weird, because I have grown up around Ohare Airport and all of the planes and I know they blink red and white lights in the night) "Is that an airplane?!" Followed by "Is that an airplane on fire!?!" As I realized its motion looked like a distant plane travelling through the sky…headed to the West, but it looked like it was on fire and burning. So the two other people with me looked and saw it for a minute or more and then it disappeared behind our locust tree in the front yard, but I got up and and walked over to where I could catch it still on its trajectory and it wasn't there. We assume that it had burnt out…or disappeared…but we weren't in a position to see if it just slowly burnt out and fizzled or if it just vanished into thin air.