A Marine F/A-18C Hornet assigned to Marine Aircraft Group 11, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, takes off from Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, Calif., on June 28, 2024. (Jennifer Sanchez/U.S. Marine Corps)
TACOMA, Wash. — Firefighters have contained the Pine Tree Fire in south-central Washington, a blaze ignited Saturday by the crash of a Marine F/A-18 Hornet jet.
“There is no more forward movement of the flames,” Debbie Kelly, spokeswoman for Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, said Tuesday.
Firefighters had taken precautionary action, evacuating campsites and closing two forest roads near the crash site. Kelly said state and federal officials were working with the Marines to secure the site for military accident investigators.
The mishap occurred when a pilot of an F/A-18C Hornet from Marine Air Group 11, based at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, north of San Diego, was taking part in what the Marines described as “routine training.”
The pilot ejected around noon near Rimrock Lake in Yakima County. The crash site is just south of Mount Rainier National Park, about 85 miles southeast of Seattle.
The pilot was quickly found by local first responders and taken to a medical facility for what the Marines said were minor injuries.
After the pilot ejected, the 24,000-pound jet slammed into a heavily wooded, uninhabited hillside near Rimrock Lake.
The cause of the incident is under investigation, the Marines said Monday.
Video and photos of the scene show a thick black ball of smoke rising out of a slope of pine trees.
The Marines declined to release more details on the incident.
“To preserve the integrity of the investigation, no additional details are available at this time,” the Marines said in a statement on Tuesday. “Mishap investigations can take several months to complete, depending on various factors.”
Tina Liniger told King 5 News in Seattle that she witnessed the crash.
“A couple of jets had already buzzed over the lake,” Lininger said. ”We heard another one coming, but it made popping sounds. We thought it was just air noise from the jet. When we walked down to the lakefront, we could see the smoke.”
Significant aircraft crashes have occurred in the area before.
The pilot and electronic warfare officer of a Navy EA-18G Growler were killed when they crashed east of Mount Rainier on Oct. 15, 2024. The Navy said the plane was on a routine training mission from Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, north of Seattle.
One of the worst aviation incidents in U.S. military history occurred on Dec. 10, 1946, when a C-46 Commando transport with 32 Marines aboard, flying in bad weather, crashed on Mount Rainier. There were no survivors.
The area where the crash occurred is near VR 1355 — a military flight training route nicknamed “The Million Dollar Run” through the mountainous area popular with military pilots for its challenging terrain.
Several videos of Growler and Hornet pilots going through the turns, climbs and dives have been posted to YouTube.
“The Million Dollar Run” draws civilian plane-spotters looking to see military aircraft flying at high speed and low levels, and alerts of planes flying the route are shared on social media.
