AlbertaPremier Danielle Smith said Sunday that 39 people were hospitalised, including at least 19 in critical condition, after a deadly fire at a Canadian military base. Smith said patients were transferred from Canadian Forces Base Wainwright to four hospitals across Alberta. She said some suffered severe burns and could face weeks or months of intensive treatment.
Prime Minister Mark Carney earlier confirmed that four service members were killed in the fire, which broke out Saturday during military training,describing it as one of the worst peacetime tragedies for Canada’s military on domestic soil. Fire crews scrambled late Saturday as fierce winds whipped flames beyond Canadian Forces Base Wainwright and into the surrounding rural area. The Canadian military said Sunday there were no indications that the incident was the result of terrorism, but the cause remained under investigation.
Speaking in a televised address, Carney said the families of those killed had been notified and that the situation was still evolving. Carney said the service members killed and injured were participating in military training when the fire broke out Saturday. Read moreEU and Canada seek closer ties: Will Canada become the EU's first associate member?
Flags would fly at half-staff on federal buildings across the country in honor of those affected by the tragedy, he said. Carney said those affected included reservists and soldiers from Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, one of Canada’s most storied military regiments. The personnel had come from bases across the country to train at Wainwright.
It was not immediately clear exactly how many people had been injured. Alberta health officials said patients from Wainwright had been transferred to four hospitals — two in Edmonton, one in Red Deer and one in Calgary. Cathy Keane, a mayoral candidate in Ontario, said her eldest son was among the military personnel critically injured.
A doctor at a hospital in the city of Edmonton, 180 kilometers (112 miles) northwest, told Canada’s national broadcaster that patients were taken to hospitals across the city as healthcare facilities around the base became “completely overwhelmed” by the number of people needing care. Warren Thirsk, an emergency department physician at the Royal Alexandra Hospital, told CBC News. It’s a one in every 15- to 25-year disaster.” Alberta health officials said Sunday they had ended the “Code Orange” emergency activated at several hospitals after the fire.
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