Military Chopper Crashes Near Washington State Base

Late last night (September 17th) rescue teams converged on an area in Summit Lake after reports of a military helicopter going down were received.  The copter crashed around 9pm, about 30 miles west of Joint Base Lewis-McCord.

The crash happened in Thurston County, the Army-Air Force installation is less than 10 miles from Tacoma in Pierce County.  This is the second time in roughly 18 months that a helicopter has gone down in the vicinity of Lewis-McCord.

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You may remember that two pilots in an Apache helicopter crashed during a training exercise in March of 2024.  That crash happened on base, and also late in the evening.  The two pilots involved survived the crash last year.  The military hasn't released much regarding last night's incident thus far.

The Scene Has Been Challenging For Responders

The rescue teams encountered problems almost immediately as they encountered a fire at the crash site preventing them from getting too close.

As of this writing the military has yet to reveal how many were aboard the chopper or the type of chopper.  The only thing that is know is the military lost contact with the craft shortly before the crash.  The situation is still fluid and responders are attempting to keep the area clear while also dealing with the fire at the scene.