A Canadian Armed Forces training exercise involving automatic grenade launchers sparked the deadly fire at CFB Wainwright that killed four soldiers and injured 39 others, military officials confirmed Thursday.
The October 17 blaze broke out at the Alberta military base, approximately 200 kilometres southeast of Edmonton, during routine training on an automatic grenade launcher range.
During an October 22 press conference, Brig.-Gen. Vanessa Hanrahan, the deputy Canadian Forces provost marshal, confirmed the training exercise ignited the fire, although the exact ignition mechanism remains undetermined.
The blaze initially remained within Permanent Danger Area 2, where safety restrictions limited firefighters’ ability to directly suppress it.
Range control personnel and base firefighters monitored the flames until a sudden shift in wind speed and direction sent the fire toward soldiers preparing for a separate exercise.
