WAINWRIGHT, Alberta — An incident in a training area at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright on Saturday afternoon left people dead and injured and touched off a fire that strong winds pushed past the edge of the base and into the countryside around it.
Canada’s defence minister, David McGuinty, said Saturday that there were both deaths and injuries but did not give a count. He said investigators were still working out what happened, called the situation very active and delicate, and said he could not remember anything like it in recent memory. He said the fire was still burning into Saturday evening.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police are part of the investigation. Officers responded a little after 4 p.m. local time when a fire was reported on training ground inside the base.
Injured people were taken to hospitals as far away as Edmonton, about 120 miles to the northwest, after medical centres near the base filled up. Photos from the scene showed paramedics loading injured service members into ambulances at the Wainwright Health Centre.
Crews fought the blaze late into the night while a windstorm with gusts near 100 kilometres an hour swept across much of the province. Late Saturday night, local officials in the Municipal District of Wainwright said the blaze was held, with homes and key infrastructure safe. Residents were never ordered to leave.
Prime Minister Mark Carney said in a social media post that a serious incident had caused a major fire at the base and offered support to the service members affected. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith called it a significant and tragic fire. Neighboring Saskatchewan is sending help, Premier Scott Moe said, though he did not say what kind. Federal departments are working with Alberta and local governments to bring in support, McGuinty said.
The base is one of the busiest training sites in the Canadian Armed Forces. Soldiers prepare there for combat operations, and it houses the Canadian Manoeuvre Training Centre and the 3rd Canadian Division Training Centre. The nearby town of Wainwright has about 7,000 people.
The fire also reached into politics. Elections Alberta closed two advance polling sites, in Lloydminster and Vermilion, early on Saturday and moved the ballots securely ahead of Monday’s provincial referendum on whether Alberta should take a first step toward possibly leaving Canada.
Section: More Savannah GA crime news
Filed under: Savannah GA Public Safety News
