Key takeaways:
- The Oct. 17 fire began on an automatic grenade launcher range at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright.
- Four soldiers died and 39 were injured; 27 remained hospitalized Thursday.
- Investigators are examining how the fire spread and whether military safety procedures need to change.
A fire that killed four Canadian soldiers and injured 39 others began on a grenade launcher range during training at a military base in Alberta, officials said Thursday. Firefighters could not attack the blaze directly when it first broke out, and a shift in the wind later drove it into an area where soldiers were training.
The fire started Oct. 17 on the automatic grenade launcher range at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright “during routine military training activities,” Brig. Gen. Vanessa Hanrahan, the Canadian Forces Provost Marshal, said in a statement reported by CBS News. Al Jazeera reported that Hanrahan described the exercise as involving live grenades.
The flames initially stayed inside the range’s “Permanent Danger Area 2,” which prevented firefighters from directly combating them, Hanrahan said. Crews monitored the fire through the day. Then, she said, “a subsequent change in wind direction and velocity” sharply increased its intensity and speed. Hanrahan said there was no indication that natural gas infrastructure was involved.
The fire swept into a training area used by Charlie Company of the 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, and Army reservists. About 84 soldiers were training at two locations: a grenade range and an area where they practised attacks on simulated enemy positions. The flames reached the second location.
Prime Minister Mark Carney said earlier this week that “ferocious winds” drove the fire and that it “jumped nearly a kilometer in less than a minute to where soldiers were gathered.” Maj. Gen. Wade Rutland said Sunday that military officials had known about the fire for hours but believed it was contained, so training continued before the winds suddenly shifted.
The Canadian Armed Forces said Thursday that 27 of the injured soldiers remained in hospital. The other 12 had been treated and released.
The military identified the four who died as Sgt. Morgan Wong of Edmonton; Pvt. Shaun Farrell of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan; Pvt. Aidan Goulding of North Vancouver, British Columbia; and Pvt. Hayden Lykkemark of Langley, British Columbia.
Carney said the soldiers were preparing for a mission next spring to reinforce Canadian troops serving with NATO in Latvia. According to Al Jazeera, the Wainwright base regularly hosts training involving personnel from NATO countries.
Carney said 50 investigators had been brought in to examine the fire. The Canadian Forces National Investigation Service is leading the investigation with support from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Rutland said investigators would look at whether the wind drove the flames toward the soldiers or whether fire spread unseen through vegetation. They will also examine whether military safety procedures need to change.
“We will get the answers to what caused this terrible tragedy, as expeditiously and transparently as necessary,” Carney told reporters Monday.
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