A historical comparison: Chroniclers in the 1340s reported “For the year 1347 – the year before the first outbreak of the epidemic in Europe – the chronicler Thomas Short notes : a “column of fire” over the Pope’s palace at Avignon, France.  However, back then, the “column of fire”, or in other accounts, “pillar of flames” was apparently red in color.

Black Death and Abrupt Earth Changes p. 22