By Gabe Whisnant,John Feng

Copyright newsweek

A U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter carrying four service members crashed during a training mission near Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state late Wednesday, sparking a wildfire and drawing a large emergency response, officials said.The MH-60 helicopter from the Army’s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment went down in the Summit Lake area west of Olympia, according to Army officials. The soldiers’ conditions were not released. The cause of the crash remains under investigation.”This remains an active, ongoing situation,” the Army said in a statement. Army spokesperson Ruth Castro told The Associated Press that the incident was being treated as a search mission and that the “most professional and skilled” responders were addressing the scene. She added that the Army was fully cooperating with law enforcement.Flight Map of Black Hawk MH-60The Army Black Hawk’s signal was last detected at 7:45 p.m. PDT about 2.5 miles east-southeast of Summit Lake, according to flight-tracking website ADS-B Exchange. Two other helicopters subsequently circled the area east of the lake in an apparent search operation, according to Newsweek’s analysis of publicly available flight data.Evergreen Intel, an open-source intelligence analyst and plane spotter on X, said the Black Hawk was assigned to the 4th Battalion of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, also known as the “Night Stalkers.”The military base—jointly operated by the U.S. Army and Air Force—is around 23 miles east of Summit Lake.What to Know About the Crash and RescueThe crash ignited a fire that grew to about an acre by Thursday morning, according to the Washington Department of Natural Resources. Local fire crews worked alongside military personnel and state wildfire staff to contain the flames.Thurston County Sheriff Derek Sanders said deputies and first responders reached the crash area but were initially unable to continue rescue efforts because of the fire. In a Facebook post, Sanders said law enforcement was coordinating closely with military officials. The sheriff’s office had earlier reported that the Army lost contact with a helicopter in the area.Rescue helicopters, including King County’s Guardian 1 and special operations units, were deployed to assist, Sanders said. No further details were released about the aircraft or its flight path.Joint Base Lewis-McChord, about 10 miles south of Tacoma, is home to Army and Air Force units and has jurisdiction over the area. Officials said updates will be provided as more information becomes available.Update: 9/18/25, 6:13 p.m. ET: This article was updated with new information and remarks.