‘Wall of flame’ wildfire triggered deadly Canada base inferno

Edmonton: A fire at a Canadian military base that killed at least four people and seriously injured dozens started with a smouldering grass fire that was whipped into a wall of flames by high winds, Canada’s Globe and Mail newspaper has reported.

The fire then engulfed Canadian Armed Forces members at a firing range, the newspaper said, citing internal military communications.

The Canadian government on Sunday confirmed four deaths at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright but has not publicly commented on the cause of the fire, which took place about 4pm on Saturday (9am Sunday, AEDT) in a training area at the base as winds gusted up to 96km/h.

Prime Minister Mark Carney said the fire was 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, adding that he had ordered flags on federal buildings across the country to be lowered to half-mast to honour the victims.

CBC, the government-funded national broadcaster, 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.

Internal military communications indicate that the fire “very seriously” injured 31 people, The Globe and Mail reported.

Soldiers and reservists at the base were preparing for a deployment to Latvia, the paper said.

CFB Wainwright had 1310 military and civilian personnel stationed there as of 2021, according to census data.

The base, one of Canada’s largest, is about 210 kilometres east of Edmonton in Alberta. National Defence Minister David McGuinty said on Sunday he would go to the city for briefings on the situation.

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.

Military and civilian firefighters fought the fire through the night in “some of the worst conditions imaginable”, Carney said.

Canadian officials are expected to address the public from Wainwright, which lies in a largely rural area, later on Monday (AEDT).

Air ambulances from Edmonton and Saskatoon, which is about 300 kilometres from Wainwright, flew to the military base on Saturday, Carney said. Patients are being treated in Edmonton, Wainwright, Calgary and Red Deer, he said.

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 6600, 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 was not expected to spread beyond its current boundaries.

Reuters

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