A rapidly spreading grass fire killed four Canadian soldiers and injured 39 others during live-fire training at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright on Saturday, National Defence said.
Troops from the Edmonton-based 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, were preparing to deploy to Latvia when the fire ignited at about 4 p.m. on October 17 during Exercise Apollo Shooter.
Read: Alberta, Ottawa Respond to Serious Incident at CFB Wainwright As Wildfire Breaks Out
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On Sunday, the military identified the fallen soldiers. They are Pvts. Shaun Farrell, Aidan Goulding and Hayden Lykkemark of the same battalion, and Sgt. Morgan Wong, a Loyal Edmonton Regiment soldier serving with it.
Premier Danielle Smith said the 39 people in hospital include at least 19 in critical condition. Ambulances and aircraft carried patients to Edmonton, Calgary and Red Deer.
Maj. Gen. Wade Rutland, who commands the 1st Canadian Division, said troops kept training because the military judged a grass fire about a kilometer away to be contained. Winds then picked up, and the flames reached the soldiers within a minute.
Officials do not yet know how the fire started, Rutland said, and investigators may need weeks to determine the cause. Several training activities were running across the range at the time. The military does not believe outside interference was involved, or that the flames set off the reported explosions by reaching oil and gas infrastructure. National Defence has no indications that terrorism played a role.
Multiple unnamed military sources say a preliminary investigation points to a munition fired during the exercise as the ignition source. The military has not confirmed that account.
The base has a record of fatal training accidents. An unexploded shell detonated while soldiers trained with live fire in April 1991, killing a reservist, and a British soldier died in a June 2000 drill that used live ammunition. Lt. Col. Dan Bobbitt died in a light armored vehicle rollover during Exercise Maple Resolve in May 2014, and Pvt. Steven Allen, 20, died that November when a lookout tower collapsed. Sgt. Robert Dynerowicz, commanding a light armored vehicle, died during an exercise in April 2017. Cpl. James Choi, 29, died in October 2020 from a gunshot he suffered during live-fire training. Military prosecutors later charged one soldier with negligence in his death, then dropped the case ahead of a scheduled court-martial.
Prime Minister Mark Carney said “the nation is in mourning” and called the fire among the worst tragedies to hit Canada’s military at home in peacetime. Flags on federal buildings will fly at half-mast.
