A blaze that killed four soldiers and injured several dozen more on a military base in the Canadian province of Alberta last week broke out on a grenade launcher range during training exercises, officials said Thursday. The fire sparked Oct. 17 on the automatic grenade launcher range of Canadian Forces Base Wainwright "during routine military training activities," Brig. Vanessa Hanrahan, the Canadian Forces Provost Marshal, said in a statement Thursday.
The fire initially remained within the range's "Permanent Danger Area 2," which limited the ability of firefighters to battle it directly, Hanrahan said, and crews were forced to monitor it throughout the day instead. However, it then spread due to "a subsequent change in wind direction and velocity" that "significantly increased the fire's intensity and rate of speed which led to these tragic events," Hanrahan added. There was no indication that natural gas infrastructure was involved in the fire, she disclosed.
The fire killed four soldiers and injured 39 others. The Canadian Armed Forces said Thursday that 27 soldiers remained hospitalized, while 12 had been treated and released. Earlier this week, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said that the fire was "driven by ferocious winds" and "jumped nearly a kilometer in less than a minute to where soldiers were gathered." Carney said that 50 investigators had been brought in to probe the fire.
The Canadian Forces National Investigation Service was leading the investigation, 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. The fire overtook soldiers from the 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, and Army reservists conducting live-fire training.
Wade Rutland said Sunday that military officials knew about the fire for hours but believed it was contained and allowed training to continue before winds suddenly shifted. About 84 soldiers from Charlie Company were training at two locations, one for throwing grenades and another for practicing attacks on simulated enemy positions. The fire swept into the second area.
Carney said the soldiers were preparing for a mission next spring to reinforce Canadian troops serving with NATO in Latvia. Rutland said investigators would examine whether winds drove the flames toward the soldiers or whether the fire spread unseen through vegetation. They will also examine whether military safety procedures need to change, he said.
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