4 Dead In ‘violent’ Fire At Canadian Military Base, Pm Carney Says

A fire Saturday at Canada‘s main NATO military training base killed four service members and seriously wounded dozens of others in an unprecedented incident, Prime Minister Prime Minister Mark Carney said Sunday on Parliament Hill.

“A violent, fast-moving fire swept through Canadian Armed Force Base in Wainwright, Alberta. What followed was one of the worst tragedies for the forces on Canadian soil in peacetime,” Carney said Sunday on Parliament Hill.

The four fatalities came from bases across the country, said Carney, adding that Defense Minister David McGuinty as well as military and government officials would provide more details on the tragedy later today in Alberta.

“I cannot recall an incident like this in recent memory,” McGuinty said Saturday night, before jetting Sunday CFB Wainwright, Alberta, where the impact of the fire was still being assessed, one day before voters in this province head to the polls in a vote on whether they want to separate from Canada.

“This is not the time to speak about that issue at this stage,” McGuinty said, when asked about the impact on the Monday vote.

The fire “ignited” in the training area of the Wainwright base at 4 p.m. local time Saturday, spreading rapidly beyond its boundaries, the Department of National Defence said in a statement Sunday. Winds of more than 60 mph were reported in the area.

“Military and civilian crews fought this fire throughout the night in some of the worst conditions imaginable, risking their lives to protect their fellow Canadians,” Carney said.

McGuinty said the RCMP was investigating the cause of the fire in what he called a “very active and delicate” investigation. The blaze was also being battled by local emergency responders in the northern Alberta community of about 7,000.

“As emergency responders continue their work and the situation continues to evolve, the full extent of the impact remains under assessment,” the department said in a statement.

Canada’s top soldier, Gen. Jennie Carignan, chief of the defense staff, would not discuss details in a statement. “This is a profoundly difficult moment for the entire Canadian Armed Forces,” she said.

In the hours following the fire, McGuinty said he had spoken with Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith. Both leaders had been in the province campaigning for national unity ahead of Monday’s vote on whether Albertans want to move forward with a legal process to begin separating from Canada.

Carney said some of the dead included members of the Alberta army regiment, the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry.

“Throughout Canada's history, the Princess Pats have fought for freedom, democracy, human dignity. In the First World War, in the Second, in Korea, in Afghanistan, and during numerous peacekeeping missions over decades,” Carney said.

“Those are the values of the women and men who were training yesterday on the Alberta Prairie when disaster struck,” he added.

While separatists are low in the polls, Carney barnstormed Alberta this week to guard against a complacent lack of turnout by over confident voters who support staying in Canada.

Carney was the Bank of England governor during Brexit, and has repeatedly held it out as a warning about the effect of unintended consequences.

Wainwright is Canada’s largest live-fire army training base where infantry, artillery and air support assets are put through their paces. It was the training ground for the Canadian personnel who joined the NATO war in Afghanistan.

“Canada does not carry this grief alone. All 32 Allied Chiefs of Defence stand with you and the Canadian Armed Forces,” Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, the chair of the NATO military committee said in a social media statement.

“Wainwright is where Canadian soldiers, and so many Allies with them, train for the hardest tasks of our profession. Those who fell there served our common security, and the Military Committee will honour their memory.”