Four Canadian military members died and 19 others were seriously wounded when a grass fire started during a live-fire training exercise on the weekend at a Canadian base, officials announced Sunday.
The blaze started Saturday at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright, where members of the 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, had been practising their combat skills. Intense winds pushed the fires quickly into an area where soldiers had been training.
39 people were injured and rushed to the hospital, Alberta authorities reported.
“The fire was a kilometre away when the wind changed. That is not typical for a fire to travel a kilometre in 36 seconds,” Maj. Gen. Wade Rutland said at a news conference in Edmonton, The Associated Press reported.
The blaze jumped firebreaks and was eventually contained with the help of municipal firefighters. There were no indications of terrorism, the military said.
All four soldiers have now been named as Sergeant Morgan Wong and Privates Shaun Farrell, Aidan Goulding and Hayden Lykkemark, all members of the battalion.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney called it one of the worst peacetime military tragedies at home, and ordered the lowering of the flags to half-mast on federal buildings.
Investigators in the armed forces are looking at how the fire started and whether safety procedures need to be altered.
