On a Saturday afternoon on the open prairie of Alberta, a grenade exercise at the Wainwright base kindled a fire that the wind carried beyond the range and into a neighbouring training ground. Four Canadian soldiers lost their lives and 39 others were hurt, a loss that places this among the gravest peacetime tragedies in the history of the country's armed forces. It falls on the eve of preparations for a deployment to Latvia, and in a place that has long trained soldiers and once held prisoners of war, it asks how a routine act of preparation could turn into something no one could reach to sto
Live Grenade Exercise Sparked Wind-Driven Fire That Killed Four Canadian Soldiers at Wainwright
Four soldiers died and 39 were injured, 27 of them requiring hospitalisation, when the fire swept through the training grounds.
On a Saturday afternoon on the open prairie of Alberta, a grenade exercise at the Wainwright base kindled a fire that the wind carried beyond the range and into a neighbouring training ground. Four Canadian soldiers lost their lives and 39 others were hurt, a loss that places this among the gravest peacetime tragedies in the history of the country's armed forces. It falls on the eve of preparations for a deployment to Latvia, and in a place that has long trained soldiers and once held prisoners of war, it asks how a routine act of preparation could turn into something no one could reach to stop.
On Saturday afternoon, a training exercise using live grenades on a launcher range at the Wainwright military base in Alberta set a fire. Before it was over, four Canadian soldiers had died and 39 others were injured.
Brigadier-General Vanessa Hanrahan, commander of the Canadian Forces Military Police Group, described the events to reporters on Thursday. The blaze started on the range and was pushed across the base by strong winds. When the wind changed in both direction and speed, the flames grew far more fierce and spread into a nearby training area.
Firefighters could not attack the fire directly. It was burning within the range's permanent danger zone, and that kept crews from getting close enough to fight it.
The soldiers belonged to Charlie Company, 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, and were in high-intensity combat training. About 84 soldiers were split between the grenade range and a second site where they practised attacks on simulated enemy positions, and the fire reached that second site. Of the 39 injured, 27 needed hospital care.
The soldiers and reservists were preparing for a planned deployment to Latvia. What remains unclear is how the training will be affected, and what investigators will find about how a grenade exercise could start a fire that crews could not reach.
On Saturday afternoon, on a grenade launcher range at the Wainwright military base in Alberta, a training exercise using live grenades set a fire. By the time it was over, four Canadian soldiers were dead and 39 others were injured.
Brigadier-General Vanessa Hanrahan, commander of the Canadian Forces Military Police Group, gave the account to reporters on Thursday. She said the blaze began on the range during the exercises and was driven across the base by high winds. Then the wind changed. "A subsequent change in wind direction and velocity significantly increased the fire's intensity," she said, and the flames moved into a nearby training area.
Firefighters could not take the fire on directly. It was burning inside what the military calls the range's "permanent danger area," Hanrahan said, and that kept crews from fighting it head-on.
The soldiers involved belonged to Charlie Company of the 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, and were engaged in high-intensity combat training. About 84 soldiers were divided between two locations: the grenade range, and a second area where they practised attacks on simulated enemy positions. The fire swept into that second area.
Of the 39 injured, 27 required hospitalisation. The incident ranks among the worst peacetime tragedies in the history of Canada's military. The source does not name the dead or describe the condition of the hospitalised.
The soldiers and reserve members were taking part in exercises ahead of a planned deployment to Latvia, where Canada maintains its largest international military operation. The base itself sits on the prairies, a landscape of open grasslands, rolling plains and scattered groves of trees.
Wainwright is one of the largest bases run by the Canadian Armed Forces and regularly hosts training involving military personnel from NATO countries. In the last months of World War II and for several months in 1946, it also served as an internment centre for German prisoners of war.
What the account leaves open is how the incident might affect pre-deployment training for the Latvia mission, and what further findings will emerge about how a grenade exercise could set off a fire that crews were unable to approach.
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