UPDATE Officials confirm 8 people killed in B 52 crash at California Air Force base

More breaking news, at least eight U.S. military personnel are dead following a B-52 bomber crash at Edwards Air Force Base after a routine test mission takes a deadly turn. Fox 11's Rachel Aragon here tracking details on what went wrong also, Rachel. Yeah, Kristen, you know this is so terribly tragic. Eight people were on board that B-52 bomber that crashed shortly after takeoff this morning. Higher-ups at the base, though, earlier giving a big update not long ago calling this now a recovery mission and a tragic and unsurvivable crash. Take a look here. Edwards Air Force Base is located, by the way, in the western Mojave Desert. It's located about 100 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles. The heavy bomber went down on the main airfield and runaway. This right here looking at is Sky Fox video from earlier over that tragic crash site. The base had said the bomber was carrying eight people on a routine test mission when it went down on the Edwards airfield around 1120 in the morning. This, we're told, was a mixed crew of military, government, civilians and even government contractors supporting this test mission. We also learned, Kristen, the base, they do these test missions every day multiple times a day. At this point, they said there was no indication yet of the cause of the crash. Right now, they said they're notifying the next of kin of the eight people who were on board that flight. We wish absolute condolences for the family members. And, again, thank our first responders who responded very bravely. Again, this is a tragedy, something that we never planned for, but we're always prepared to respond. And we thank those involved as we work through this process. This right here is camera angle from Alert California, a public safety program that monitors wildfires and disasters in real time. This, though, captured a time-lapse video showing the Edwards Air Force Base crash aftermath. Particularly right there, you can see the smoke plumes following that tragic crash. The base also saying that tomorrow they are terminating operations as the crash continues to be investigated. We also learned in terms of a timeline of when we'll know the cause. They said the base right now is setting up an interim safety board to gather more information. But the whole process could take up to eight months to figure out the exact cause. Fox 11 in Los Angeles with that coverage of those brush fires and also that tragic situation there at the Edwards Air Force Base. Some more video of that scene after a military plane crashed. Eight crew members dead after a B-52 bomber crashed shortly after takeoff from Edwards Air Force Base today. Those victims included Air Force personnel and government contractors who were on a training mission. Let's play out that full update from officials there with the latest on this crash. Thank you, Mike, and thank you all for coming. Today, Edwards Air Force Base experienced a horrible tragedy, and we lost eight great Americans. This crash is deemed to be unsurvivable. And right now our thoughts and prayers are with the families of those that lost their loved ones. We're sending teams out to notify the next of kin right now as we speak. And those next of kin notifications will take place over the coming hours and remainder of the day. It was a B-52 that was on initial takeoff supporting the radar modernization program, which is a test. It was a local test sortie. It took off and immediately after takeoff crashed and burst into flames. Our team of first responders snapped into action and immediately took cordoned off the area and took the appropriate action to start putting out the flames. While that was taking place, our base responded in kind to establish an emergency operation center and a wing operation center to ensure that the command and control of all base agencies and the response for the recovery effort was underway. After reviewing the footage of the crash, it was deemed that this was an unrecoverable crash and unsurvivable. At that point, we went into the notification process, and as I said before, that's taking place right now. I want to reiterate that our thoughts and prayers go out to the family members. This is a tragedy, and this is going to be the worst days of their lives. We understand that, and we want to keep them in our thoughts and prayers. At this point, we don't have any indication as to what the cause was of this. We won't be able to release that information, and we don't have an ability to get that anytime soon. Right now, we're going to stand up an interim safety board to do the initial gathering of the facts, and that will then lead to a safety investigation board, which will look into those root causes. Once that's complete, it takes about 30 days, then it will go into an accident investigation board, and then that will determine all of the information that we can release to the public and to the next account. That process can take upwards of six months, so we will be—we have to wait patiently while that process undergoes to ensure that we have—we respect the process of doing full root cause analysis. At this time, I want to introduce my command chief, Chief Josh Skarlokin, to provide any words if he would like to. Again, we wish absolute condolences for the family members, and again, thank our first responders who responded very bravely. Again, this is a tragedy, something that we never planned for, but we're always prepared for it to respond, and we thank those involved as we work through this process. I'll now open it up for questions. Colonel, Sam Poyle with 23 ABC. The people on board, were they all military personnel? Were there any civilians? Sam, was it? Yes, sir. Yeah, thank you for that question. This was a mixed crew. This was a mixed crew of military, government civilians, and government contractors supporting this test mission. Thank you for that question. Appreciate it. What are you talking all about? No, we don't have the profile or any of that. It was a local test mission that was in execution according to their test plan. That will be made public later. We can't talk about any of the details of the specifics of the aircraft. All of that's going to be analyzed by the Accident Investigation Board, and that information will come out after that. The crash was totally contained within Edwards Air Force Base on the runway. What was the experience of those on board, from civilians to airmen? Were these experienced pilots or trainees? Ma'am, I appreciate that question. Right now, we're doing next-of-kin notifications, and we don't want to release any information about who these individuals are until the families know about it. We'll have that information 24 hours after next-of-kin notification takes place. When was the last time that Edwards Base had a deadly crash? I can't speak to the specifics of when that happened. I don't have that information available to me. It hasn't been within the last three years since I've been here. How routine is it to have these test missions? Do they happen once a year? Absolutely. Our test missions take place every day, multiple times a day. That's correct. Can you tell us what the scene on the ground is like right now? Is this a recovery mission? Yes, ma'am. The initial response is to ensure that we can get the fire out, and that we coordinate off and make it a safe area for everybody, all of our first responders and anybody that might be coming up to the crash site. So that is already undergone. Now it is a recovery operation. Can you tell us how many civilians and how many Air Force soldiers were there? Again, we're not going to release any specifics as to the makeup of the crew. I can just say at this time that it was a mixed crew of government civilians. Government contractors and uniformed military. We'll have those details after we have next-of-kin notification. Was there any weaponry? No. How long after the crash? How long did it take? Again, those details will come out over the next several weeks after we have the investigation to release those public records. Can you describe the crash scene and just what it looked like, and how you were able to say that was a survivor? It was tragic and unsurvivable, is where I'll leave it. Is the base open for visitors, civilians, workers? Yes, we did reopen the ability for individuals to come on base. And again, you can't judge at all about how high the earthquake was. That's correct. Do you know if a black box has been located yet? Again, that's the recovery operation that's undergoing. They'll do everything they can to find that information, and then that will be used by the Safety Investigation Board to determine root cause. Can you say that you have given this tragedy any additional testimony surrounding it? Tomorrow we're terminating operations while we undergo this, mainly because of the runway itself. And we'll eventually get back to full operations and execute. We'll obviously internalize any of the whatever information we can from this. But at this point, yes, we are standing down operations tomorrow. Raymond Mason? That's a great question. I'm sorry, what was your name one more time? Raymond Mason. Thank you, Raymond. Yes, this is an Air Force-run operation, so we have all the processes that I've just laid out is going to be entirely Air Force. And, Ken, you didn't talk at all about the last time that particular aircraft may have been instituted or battled, and whether it was... I don't have those details at this time. Okay. Ladies and gentlemen, again, thank you for coming out here today, and we appreciate the sympathy that you're all expressing and helping us express to our internal and external communities. To your right is a group of public affairs people. They honestly will not be able to provide much more, if anything, than Colonel Hayes and Chief Scarlatt can have today. But if you would like to follow up with them, they're available to you. Thank you very much. One more question before you go. I'm so sorry. Did any of you know any of the individuals on board that have got personal information? I don't want to speak to anything until we have the next to get notification. I'm sorry. Are you grounding all B-52s? We're grounding all operations at Edwards Air Force Base, not any larger than that. Just heard from officials there at Edwards Air Force Base in California. A live look there, as you just heard, they have grounded operations after eight crew members were killed after a B-52 bomber crashed shortly after takeoff there from Edwards Air Force Base today. Those victims including Air Force personnel and government contractors who were doing a training mission. And we will bring you more updates as we learn them here on Live Now from Fox.