Strong winds drove grass fire into live-munitions attack range
The fire broke out at about 16:00 local time (22:00 GMT) on Saturday at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright, one of Canada’s busiest military training bases, and was contained by Sunday morning, officials said.
It spread into a training area as infantry members conducted “high-intensity combat training with live munitions” at a grenade range and an attack range, Maj-Gen Wade Rutland told reporters at a Sunday briefing. At the attack range, 10 soldiers practised attacking a simulated enemy.
Carney, addressing the nation from Ottawa on Sunday, described the incident as “one of the worst tragedies for the forces on Canadian soil in peacetime.” “The nation is in mourning for those brave members of our armed forces who we have lost,” he said. Carney added that military and emergency crews fought the flames throughout the night in “some of the worst conditions imaginable.”
The BBC has confirmed that the deceased are Sgt Morgan Wong, Pte Shaun Farrell, Pte Aidan Goulding and Pte Hayden Lykkemark. The wounded include reservists and soldiers from the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, officials said.
In a statement early Sunday, the Canadian Armed Forces said that “while the incident remains under investigation, at this time, there are no indications that it was the result of any terrorist activity.” Rutland told the same briefing that investigators do not believe the fire was caused by oil and gas infrastructure or outside interference.
The blaze began as a grass fire about one kilometre (0.6 miles) from the attack range and moved toward the training area, Rutland said. “There was a multitude of ordnance moving through the Wainwright training area,” he said, listing a grenade launcher, grenades, small arms and ammunition. “Uncommonly strong winds caused the fire to spread rapidly and shift direction towards the range administrative area.”
Wainwright Mayor Bruce Pugh told the BBC that cannon fire had been heard coming from the base on Saturday before it suddenly stopped — not uncommon given live-fire activity — followed by news that local emergency services had been deployed to what officials described as an “all hands on deck” situation.
Of the 39 injured people being cared for in hospital, at least 19 are in a critical condition, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said at a press briefing on Sunday evening.
Warren Thirsk, an emergency department doctor at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton, told broadcaster CBC that the number of patients involved in the incident had “completely overwhelmed” healthcare facilities in Wainwright. The hospital initially declared a code orange — a disaster-response protocol for a high-casualty incident — before standing it down.
Brandon Simmons, who lives in long-term care at the Wainwright Health Centre, told Reuters that when the code orange was announced, nurses dropped everything and grabbed stretchers, gurneys and medical equipment before running to the front entrance. “Ambulances kept coming throughout the night,” he said. “I heard people screaming inside of those vehicles that will never end up being out of my mind. It was like a scene from a war movie.”
The provincial health agency said patients are being treated at facilities across Alberta, adding that it is anticipated that care for those impacted “will be intensive and will add to existing high demand on acute care in Alberta.” The agency deployed 30 units directly into Wainwright, including 22 ground ambulances, six fixed-wing aircraft and two rotary-wing aircraft. STARS, the regional air ambulance service, dispatched aircraft and crews from Edmonton, Saskatoon and Calgary.
Wainwright, about 210 kilometres (130 miles) east of Edmonton, is one of the main Canadian military bases used for live-fire training exercises and houses troops from Canada and allied countries. About 690 military personnel and 300 civilian workers are on site on a typical day. Fire and rescue teams remained at the scene to contain any potential flare-ups, Pugh said.