Multiple people killed after major fire at CFB Wainwright in Alberta
www.theglobeandmail.com
Officials say blaze spread beyond military base’s training area; number of casualties has not been confirmed

Alternate sources:

Statement from Defence Minister David McGuinty via. CPAC: https://youtube.com/watch?v=2wGfoK3nqOs

Excerpts:

Acute Care Alberta says EMS are on the scene providing care and transport related to the emergency at the military base about 200 kilometres southeast of Edmonton.

He said Armed Forces members are at the scene and that RCMP are also involved.

David McGuinty, speaking to reporters late Saturday in Ottawa, said he had no other details to share, including the number of casualties or what happened.

As McGuinty delivered the news, fire crews in Alberta were battling a blaze raging between the base and the nearby town of Wainwright.

Asked if the town was threatened by the fire, McGuinty said he understands people there are actually helping the base with the injured and the fire.

Firefighters are facing a volatile situation. Large areas of the province were hit during the day by a windstorm with gusts up to 100 kilometres an hour. The wind toppled some trees, sent signs flying and garbage cans rolling down streets.

CFB Wainwright is a massive military training base located 200 kilometres from Edmonton. It’s one Canada’s busiest and is used mainly to train soldiers and prepare units for combat operations.

It’s also the site of the Canadian Manoeuvre Training Centre, which prepares military units to operate together in realistic battlefield conditions, as well as the 3rd Canadian Division Training Centre, which provides basic infantry training.

  • CanadaPlus
    1·
    2 days ago

    So, after being busy a bit, the story has moved, anyway. There was an existing grass fire, and the range safety officer just decided it was fine to train right beside it, in a famously windy and unpredictable climate.

    There were people saying there’s wells on base, and Alberta started using natural gas very early, like possibly before there was a base. Clearly a lot of false rumours were swirling around, though.

    • Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works
      1·
      3 days ago

      There was an existing grass fire, and the range safety officer just decided it was fine to train right beside it, in a famously windy and unpredictable climate.

      I’m aware. There is some important context here that the public reporting really doesn’t talk about though; if you’re doing weapon handling of any sort, grass fires are very nearly a daily occurrence. A few times a week, for sure. They are so common that if units had to stop training every time there was a fire, they would literally never train.

      Though we won’t know for sure until the investigation is done, it’s entirely possible - likely, even - that the range safety officer followed established protocol to the letter. The way the CAF handles range fires, by necessity, is you report it, and you make sure no one is in immediate danger. And then you get on with your work.

      Now, either protocol wasn’t followed in this case, or the protocol needs to be updated. That’s clear. But I think a lot of people are reading the reporting on this and thinking “Oh my God, how could you let people train next to a raging inferno??!!” and not understanding that, in this context, that’s literally just an average day on the job. The policies have to draw a very fine line between “acceptably dangerous” and “too risky” and that’s not easy to get right.

      If it sounds like I’m being callous here, believe me, I’m not. I have loved ones in the military. That’s why I know so much about this. There are people I care very deeply about whose lives are on the line here. But those same people have to live with the reality of these difficult choices, and they very much want the average civilian to understand that this is a much more complex situation than it sounds.