4 soldiers hurt in helicopter crash at Fort Campbell

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky.— Four soldiers were injured — at least three critically — Tuesday morning when a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crashed and caught fire during a training exercise at Fort Campbell.

The crew was helped by other soldiers training on the ground nearby.

The UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter from 101st Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), went down at 11:07 a.m in a training area on Fort Campbell.

The helicopter caught fire and the blaze was extinguished by Fort Campbell Fire and Emergency Services, according to a news release. Soldiers from 1st Brigade Combat Team were in the training area and immediately responded to the incident and helped extricate the four soldiers from the aircraft.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center spokeswoman Tavia Smith said LifeFlight transported two soldiers to the trauma unit of the Nashville hospital. An Air Evac helicopter also took another soldier to Vanderbilt's trauma center. Two were in critical condition and one was in stable but critical condition, she said.

The fourth soldier was taken by ambulance to Blanchfield Army Community Hospital. No condition was available. The Army was notifying family members and had not released the soldiers' names or the nature of their injuries by Tuesday evening.

"Our priority is to provide the best medical care available to the soldiers and support services to their families," said Maj. Gen. Andrew P. Poppas, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) and Fort Campbell commanding general. "Their care and well-being is of our utmost concern."

The site was secured and the crash is under investigation

The UH-60 Black Hawk is a front-line utility helicopter used for air assault, air cavalry and aeromedical evacuation units. According to a military website, it has a crew of two pilots and two crew chiefs.

Director of Montgomery County Emergency Management Agency Jerry Buchanan confirmed post officials had contacted him to ask Emergency Medical Services personnel to respond "for a situation on Fort Campbell." EMS Director Jimmy Edwards said crews went to Gate 1 to stand by and then staged at a fire station on post but were not sent to the site.

RELATED: Other helicopter crashes involving Fort Campbell

The last helicopter training-related crash involving Fort Campbell pilots was in December 2015 when Chief Warrant Officer 2 Kevin M. Weiss, 32, of McHenry, Ill., and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Alex Caraballoleon, 35, of Patillas, Puerto Rico, were killed after their AH-64 Apache crashed in a soybean field in Montgomery County during a night flight.

This story will be updated as information becomes available.