4 dead and dozens injured after major fire breaks out at one of Canada’s largest military bases

By Daniel Dale, Jessie Yeung, Paula Newton, Max Saltman, CNN

Toronto (CNN) — Four Canadian service members were killed and dozens injured in a major fire Saturday that occurred as troops were conducting combat training with live munitions at one of the country’s largest and busiest military bases, officials said Sunday.

Thirty-nine people were being treated in hospital as of Sunday afternoon, “and at least 19 are in critical condition,” Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said at a press conference Sunday. A health official for the province said eight of the injured were stable and 12 were “ambulatory” with lesser injuries.

Prime Minister Mark Carney described the incident as “one of the worst tragedies for the forces on Canadian soil in peacetime.” Maj. Gen. Wade Rutland said an investigation would determine whether the tragedy was “preventable.”

On Sunday evening, Canada’s military released the names of the service members who were killed in the fire: Sgt. Morgan Wong of the Loyal Edmonton Regiment, Privates Shaun Farrell, Aidan Goulding and Hayden Lykkemark of the 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry.

Rutland said “a grass fire ignited” during a training activity on Saturday involving 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, a storied infantry regiment. He said that a fire had initially been burning “for several hours” about one kilometer (0.6 miles) away, but the base’s range control decided that the training activity could continue because that fire was “contained” and wasn’t expected to move “anywhere near” the soldiers.

Then “uncommonly strong winds caused the fire to shift rapidly,” Rutland said. He added that “the fire was a kilometer away when the wind shifted; it is not normal for a fire to move a kilometer in 30, 60 seconds” and that he had never “seen anything like it.”

In Parliament on Monday, Carney told lawmakers that the cause of the fire is still not yet known, but that a “full investigation” is underway, led by the Canadian Forces National Investigation Service.

Rutland identified the four soldiers who died during the fire as Sgt. Morgan Wong and Privates Aidan Goulding, Shaun Farrell, and Hayden Lykkemark.

The troops were conducting “high-intensity combat training with live munitions,” including “throwing hand grenades on a hand grenade range” and conducting simulated attacks, he said. He said the cause of the fire is under “active investigation” but that the military did not believe it involved “any outside interference” or oil and gas infrastructure. Earlier, an official at the Department of National Defence told CNN’s newsgathering partner CBC that there was no indication of terrorism.

“There was a multitude of ordnance moving through the Wainwright training area yesterday. Grenade launcher, grenades, small arms, ammunition. Quite frankly, it could have been any of that, or none of it,” Rutland said.

Carney said earlier Sunday: “The nation is in mourning for those brave members of our armed forces whom we have lost.”

Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Wainwright, located about 210 kilometers (130 miles) southeast of the provincial capital Edmonton, is one of the country’s most important military bases. It houses the Canadian Manoeuvre Training Centre and the 3rd Canadian Division Training Centre. It’s also a training ground for army field force units based in Edmonton.

The battalion was preparing to become a rapid-reaction force and also to deploy to Latvia in the spring as part of NATO’s mission bolstering Eastern European allies near Russia, Rutland said.

A code orange, which designates an emergency response protocol for a high number of patients, was declared at hospitals in Alberta shortly after the fire broke out, CBC reported, citing emergency department physician Dr. Warren Thirsk at the city’s Royal Alexandra Hospital.

“It’s a one in every 15 to 25-year disaster,” Thirsk said, adding that Wainwright’s healthcare centers had been “completely overwhelmed.” Patients were diverted to hospitals across Edmonton. Emergency Health Services Alberta deployed 30 units to Wainwright: 22 ground ambulances, six fixed-wing units and two rotary-wing units.

Eyewitnesses in Wainwright described dramatic scenes when fire victims began arriving at local hospitals. Brandon Simmons, who lives at Wainwright Health Centre’s long-term care unit, told Reuters news agency that the facility was quickly inundated with patients transported in military vehicles.

“I heard people screaming inside of those vehicles that will never end up being out of my mind,” Simmons said. “It was just a scene from a war movie.”

By Sunday afternoon, the code orange had been lifted.

Bruce Pugh, the mayor of the neighboring community of Wainwright, said the fire had crossed the base fence but was kept under control by firefighting teams. He said the fire would have a profound impact on his community, noting that “we share our lives” with the service members at the military base.

“We have neighbors who are either serving or former members of the Canadian Armed Forces. We’re integrated, our kids playing the same hockey teams, attend the same schools,” Pugh told CBC, adding “we’re also really worried about our community members and friends and neighbors who work in our Wainwright hospital.”

Conservative opposition leader Pierre Poilievre, who represents the area in Parliament, wrote in a social media post that he had spoken to Carney about the fire, thanked emergency responders, and added: “Pray for Wainwright, everyone.”

This is a developing story and has been updated.

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