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Several people remain hospitalized after a military jet crashed in northern Michigan on Thursday afternoon.Law enforcement said first responders were being evaluated at a local hospital after possible exposure to the harmful chemicals from the F-16 that crashed near Blair Township, southwest of Traverse City in Grand Traverse County.According to audio available on liveatc.net, air traffic controllers were told the pilot of the F-16 might have struck a bird before crashing.An F-16 from the Texas Air National Guard was participating in a joint training mission when the jet crashed near rural roads in the northern Lower Peninsula.The pilot ejected before the crash, which witnesses described happening after the F-16 got low to the ground around 1 p.m. on Thursday.Emergency crews responded to county roads near Blair Township Road where smoke was billowing from a crash site and flames were seen in fields. Heather Fitzgerald was traveling with her husband when both saw the jet flying nearby in the community of Grawn, Michigan.
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The pilot was taken to the hospital for treatment, but was expected to be okay.The county emergency team issued an evacuation order for residents within a mile-radius of the site due to a chemical spill from the jet crash.
