US Army helicopter from Joint Base Lewis-McChord crashes in Washington state

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TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — A U.S. Army helicopter assigned to Joint Base Lewis-McChord was on a routine training mission when it crashed in Washington state not far from the base, Army officials said Thursday. There was no immediate word of how many people were aboard and their conditions.

The helicopter crashed at about 9 p.m. Wednesday, an Army official said in a statement. It sparked a small wildfire that had grown to 1 acre (0.4 hectares) by Thursday morning, the Washington Department of Natural Resources said.

This is “currently a search mission” involving the “most professional and skilled addressing the situation,” Army spokesperson Ruth Castro told The Associated Press in an email. They were fully cooperating with law enforcement, she said. No details were released about the helicopter.

The base is about 10 miles (16 kilometers) south of Tacoma under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Army Joint Base Headquarters.

The Thurston County sheriff’s office, based in Olympia, posted online late Wednesday that deputies were dispatched to reports of a possible helicopter crash in the Summit Lake area, west of Olympia.

“We have been advised that the military lost contact with a helicopter in the area,” the department said. It said it was working with the base and that no further details were available.

Thurston County Sheriff Derek Sanders said on Facebook that deputies located the crash site, “but have been unable to continue rescue efforts as the scene is on fire.”

The King County Guardian 1 helicopter and special operation rescue units responded to the crash site, the sheriff said.

Staff with the state natural resources were working with multiple agencies, including the military and the local fire protection district, to battle the fire started by the crash, said Thomas Kyle-Milward, DNR wildfire communications manager.