Mike,
I don't know if this is related, but about that same time there was a top secret military flight just a few hundred miles away. I heard about it from a friend in the Air Force. They are developing a system that can bring down ICBM's which are coming over the North Pole.

I don't know if these are chemical or biological, but maybe some of the laser energy got divirted to your area. Were there any burn marks on the balsa?

Tom