A fire that killed four soldiers at a western Canadian military base was sparked by an exercise using live grenades, a military official said.
The deadly fire broke out on a grenade launcher range during military exercises on Saturday, with high winds propelling it across the base, Brigadier-General Vanessa Hanrahan, commander of the Canadian Forces Military Police Group, told reporters on Thursday.
“A subsequent change in wind direction and velocity significantly increased the fire’s intensity,” she added, with the flames spreading to a training area at the Wainwright military base in Alberta.
Due to the blaze being in the “permanent danger area” of the range, firefighters were unable to directly combat it, Hanrahan added.
The fire spread on Saturday afternoon during high-intensity combat training involving Charlie Company of the 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry.
The military base lies in the prairies, a landscape of wide, open grasslands, rolling plains and scattered groves of trees.
About 84 soldiers were split between a grenade range and an area where they practised attacks on simulated enemy positions. The fire swept into the second training area.
Four soldiers died and 39 were injured, with 27 requiring hospitalisation. The incident was one of the worst peacetime tragedies for Canada’s military.
The soldiers and reserve members were participating in exercises ahead of a planned deployment to Latvia, where Canadian forces have their largest international military operation.
The Wainwright base is one of the largest bases operated by the Canadian Armed Forces. It regularly hosts training exercises involving military personnel from NATO countries.
During the final months of World War II and for several months in 1946, the base was used as an internment centre for German prisoners of war.
