1 Soldier Dead, 9 Others Injured After Lightning Strikes Georgia Army Base
Fort Gordon/Facebook
One U.S. Army Reserve soldier died and nine others were injured after a lightning strike at Fort Gordon in Augusta, Georgia on Wednesday.
The lightning struck around 11:10 a.m. as the soldiers conducted a training exercise, according to The Augusta Chronicle and The Washington Post.
While a spokeswoman for the military base told the Post that it was not clear whether the lightning directly struck the soldiers or a generator in the area, a release from the base obtained by the Chronicle stated the soldiers "sustained injuries associated with a lightning strike."
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Fort Gordon's emergency personnel responded immediately to the incident, according to the Chronicle. The soldiers were treated at the nearby Eisenhower Army Medical Center, where one soldier died.
A spokeswoman from the base told the Post that she could not release the identities of the injured soldiers, while the dead soldier's identity will be released after their family has been notified. The base has not yet commented on the status of the other nine soldiers injured in the lightning strike.
Fort Gordon's Public Affairs Office did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment Thursday.
Fort Gordon/Facebook
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Fort Gordon, which was first established as Camp Gordon in 1917, hosts "approximately 16,000 service members (including active duty, national guard and reserve) and another 9,000 civilian employees," according to the base's website. The base's total population — which its website says includes military families, contractors and retirees among others — is roughly 80,000.
The military's safety precautions for lightning storms include instructing soldiers to place weapons on the ground, spread out and remove tactical gear to minimize potential injuries from a direct strike, according to the Post.
While lightning directly strikes the ground roughly 40 million times a year, the odds of being struck by lightning are less than one in 1 million, according to the Center for Disease Prevention and Control. "Almost 90% of all lightning strike victims survive," the CDC's page for lightning strike victim data reads.
The CDC's website also notes that states in the southeast part of the country are most at risk from lightning strikes, with Florida and Texas recording the most lightning deaths between 2006 and 2021.
