glowing orb hovers 20 feet above onlookers

This event was witnessed by my mother (then 12 years old) my grandmother and an uncle.  The date is approximate.  As they were traveling home westbound on Oakdale Rd. in East Toledo, there is a C&O train track which they were stopped at.  The area is residential now (the tracks still used by CSX) but, at the time it was mostly farmland.  My mother and grandmother recounted the story several times that they had scene a globe hoverring about 20 feet over them just to the side of the road.  The object was orange in color and seemed luminous.  There were two other vehicles stopped by the train, one of which was occupied by a young couple that had gotten out and taken photographs.  My mother seems to recall this event making local news, although I haven't found any evidence of that.  After some time, they described three distinc bursts of flame and explosive sound at different locations on the object (similar to a roman candle) and then the object increased slowly gaining speed into the sky.  They watched it until they could no longer see it.  My uncle had acknowledged the event, but was quite shaken by it and would not discuss it.  It is unknown who the "young couple" was or if they have photographic evidence of this.
Date is approximate.  PD