A weekend fire at an Alberta military base killed at least four people and seriously injured dozens in what prime minister Mark Carney called one of the worst peacetime tragedies ever for Canada’s armed forces on home soil.
“The nation is in mourning for those brave members of our armed forces whom we have lost,” Carney said on Sunday, adding that he had ordered flags on federal buildings across the country to be lowered to half-staff to honour the victims.
CBC, the government-funded national broadcaster, had previously reported seven deaths at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright, citing unnamed sources. Canadian authorities have said the situation continues to evolve and that they will not confirm casualty figures until next of kin have been notified.
CFB Wainwright had 1,310 military and civilian personnel stationed there as of 2021, according to census data. The base, one of Canada’s largest, is about 210km (130 miles) east of Edmonton in Alberta. National defence minister David McGuinty said on Sunday he would go to the city for briefings on the situation.
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The base houses the Canadian Manoeuvre Training Centre, which runs training scenarios and exercises for the army. Carney said those affected in Saturday’s fire came from military bases across the country.
Few details have been released about the cause of the fire, which broke out at about 4pm (11pm Irish time) on Saturday in a training area at the base as winds gusted at 96km/h (60m/h).
The Canadian military said on Sunday there were no indications that the incident was the result of terrorism, but the cause remained under investigation.
Military and civilian firefighters tackled the blaze through the night in “some of the worst conditions imaginable”, Carney said.
Canadian officials are expected to address the public from Wainwright, which is located in a largely rural area, later on Sunday.
Air ambulances from Edmonton and Saskatoon, which is about 300km from Wainwright, flew to the military base on Saturday, Carney said. Patients are being treated in Edmonton, Wainwright, Calgary and Red Deer.
Health staff in Edmonton said a “code orange”, or mass-casualty event, was declared to co-ordinate the medical response for patients being transported from Wainwright, CBC News reported.
The town of Wainwright, with a population of about 6,600, is just north of the base.
The municipality posted on social media that the fire had crossed the base fence into the nearby district, but no evacuation orders had been issued. It said on Sunday that the fire is not expected to spread beyond its current boundaries. – Reuters
