Has Anyone Seen Orange Floating Orbs in the Sky?

Between 1996 and 1999, I spotted a mysterious orange orb hovering in the night sky above Yucaipa, California, on four separate occasions. Each time, I was with family members who also witnessed it. The first time occurred with my sister as we were driving to the train station. A strange light in the southern sky caught my attention, and we pulled over to observe it. The orb was an orange-yellow color, resembling lava, and appeared stationary. It looked about the size of my fingertip and had drips coming down from it. I ruled out it being a planet or aircraft because it was dripping liquid fire. Could it have been a sky lantern or a plasma ball? The second sighting happened nearly a year later while I was returning from the grocery store. An orange light caught my eye again, this time to the east, right above my sister's house. I called her, and we both observed it drifting behind the trees. She described it as a floating lava pancake. The third sighting occurred in 1997 when my daughter pointed out a bright red light in the sky, which turned to orange when we got home. The last sighting was on New Year's Eve 1998 when neighbors and I spotted another orange orb floating above Crafton Hills. It slowly moved sideways and then became a red dot before disappearing. I haven't seen it since and often wonder what it was.