Explosions and low flyovers shaking your home? It’s JBLM, and here’s when it will stop
If you’ve been having a quiet afternoon or evening at home this week, only to have your windows shaken by distant explosions or a passing helicopter, don’t worry. It won’t last much longer.
Fortunately, no one is under fire, and there’s no emergency — the noises have been coming from Joint Base Lewis-McChord. The base, which is about halfway between Olympia and Tacoma, is in the midst of mortar, demolition and artillery training. It is scheduled to last through next week.
At the start of the month, JBLM posted on social media that the loud noises from their exercises would persist in the region through Friday, Sept. 15. The schedule has since changed, and the explosions are now set to last until next week.
JBLM spokesperson Joseph Piek told McClatchy News on Thursday afternoon that training exercises will last until Tuesday, Sept. 19.
“The Range Support Office notified us early last week,” Piek said. “So from the 5th September through the 19th September, we’ve had either mortar training, demolitions training or field artillery training going on day or night time.”
Piek said there’s no schedule for when people should prepare to hear noise from the base; it could happen at any time of the day or night. The most likely source until the end of training on Sept. 19 will be artillery, as those teams started their training on Wednesday.
The low-flying helicopters in the area are also connected to the training, but similar to the explosions, there’s no schedule as to when residents can expect them to fly over.
This story was originally published September 14, 2023 at 1:47 PM.
