Fire That Killed 4 Soldiers at Canada's CFB Wainwright Began on Grenade Launcher Range
Officials say wind shifted and drove the Oct. 17 blaze through soldiers in training; 39 were injured, 27 remain hospitalized, and 50 investigators are working the case.
A blaze that killed four soldiers and injured dozens more at a military base in the Canadian province of Alberta last week broke out on a grenade launcher range during training exercises, military officials said Thursday.
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. It initially stayed inside the range's "Permanent Danger Area 2," which limited firefighters' ability to attack it directly, so crews monitored it through the day. Then "a subsequent change in wind direction and velocity" sharply increased the fire's intensity and speed, Hanrahan said, "which led to these tragic events." There was no indication that natural gas infrastructure was involved.
Four soldiers died and 39 were injured. The Canadian Armed Forces said Thursday that 27 remain in the hospital while 12 have been treated and released. The military identified the dead 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.
The fire overtook soldiers from the 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, and Army reservists who were conducting live-fire training. About 84 soldiers from Charlie Company were split between two locations, one for throwing grenades and another for practicing attacks on simulated enemy positions. The flames swept into the second area. Prime Minister Mark Carney said the soldiers were preparing for a mission next spring to reinforce Canadian troops serving with NATO in Latvia.
Carney said earlier this week that the fire was "driven by ferocious winds" and "jumped nearly a kilometer in less than a minute to where soldiers were gathered." He said 50 investigators had been brought in. The Canadian Forces National Investigation Service is leading the probe with support from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. "We will get the answers to what caused this terrible tragedy, as expeditiously and transparently as necessary," Carney told reporters Monday.
Questions remain over the decision to keep training going. Maj. Gen. Wade Rutland said Sunday that military officials knew about the fire for hours but believed it was contained and allowed training to continue until the winds suddenly shifted. Investigators will examine whether winds drove the flames toward the soldiers or whether the fire spread unseen through vegetation, and whether military safety procedures need to change.
