I am actually an aviator, been staring at planes out the window for a while*. Even when I know exactly where in the sky to look, courtesy of the TCAS, I cannot spot a 777 beyond about 90km in the very best visibility and high contrast light. And thats with better than standard vision, from any of the many modern airliners I have flown.
I once saw (at altitude) the space shuttle launch from about 230 miles away, at night. It was barely discernible. Now that's a fire!
The US already volunteered that their flame detecting satellites saw nothing in the area, so we have inconsistent data.
*still learning though.