10 to 15 glowing lights changing color at high altitude.

I am a Captain at a 121 airline. On our way south to Santa Ana around 10:15 I noticed 10 to 15 glowing red lights ahead around 20 to 30 miles SW of LAX in the vicinity of Catalina. It was hard to pinpoint an altitude but we were at 25,000 ft. and they looked almost level with us, possibly lower. The lights seemed to change from red to white. They stayed illuminated for a few minutes then disappeared. They re-illuminated a few minutes later what seemed like a couple miles west of the original position then disappeared again as we got closer. Other airlines reported seeing them as well as multiple people talking about them on the emergency frequency 121.5. After doing some research online, it's possible they were military flares but not 100% sure.