Four members of the Canadian Armed Forces were killed after a grass fire spread rapidly into an active live-ammunition training area at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright in Alberta on Saturday, according to officials cited by BBC News. Dozens of people were injured, making the incident a major emergency-response and hospital-capacity event for the region.
Officials said strong, shifting winds pushed the fire toward the range’s administrative area while infantry personnel were conducting high-intensity combat training with live munitions. The Canadian Armed Forces said there were no indications of terrorist activity, and Maj.-Gen. Wade Rutland said officials did not believe oil and gas infrastructure or outside interference caused the incident, BBC reported.
A Canadian Armed Forces memo obtained by Global News said the fire index had been low before the exercise but an unexpected wind change caused the grass fire to spread. The memo said flames crossed a fire guard and moved beyond the base, prompting the evacuation of one family home. It said the cause of the blaze remains unknown.
The response included seven Royal Canadian Air Force Griffon helicopters, a Hercules aircraft and search-and-rescue technicians, according to Global News. Alberta’s health agency deployed 30 units, including 22 ground ambulances, six fixed-wing aircraft and two rotary-wing aircraft, BBC reported. STARS air-ambulance crews were also sent from Edmonton, Saskatoon and Calgary.
Hospitals in Wainwright and Edmonton absorbed the casualties. The Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton initially declared a code orange, its high-casualty disaster protocol, before later standing it down, BBC reported. Fire and rescue crews remained at the base to address possible flare-ups while investigators headed to the site.