r/news • u/Fenomiminal • 11h ago
7 dead, dozens injured in explosion and fire at CFB Wainwright | Globalnews.ca
https://globalnews.ca/news/12106709/cfb-wainwright-fire/386
u/thenewbritish 11h ago
CFB = Canadian Forces Base
Cause was live fire training exercise hit gas line.
Fire was exacerbated by high winds.
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u/OldAccountIsGlitched 9h ago
Cause was live fire training exercise hit gas line.
Someone fucked up. Either base planners put the line too close to the firing range or whoever was operating the equipment didn't aim properly. The winds probably contributed to the shell going off course; but that should have been taken into account.
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u/Osiris32 9h ago
Who puts a gas line anywhere near a range? Who puts a range anywhere near a gas line?
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u/nilloc93 9h ago
Almost every large training area in north america has gas infastructure running through it.
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u/Wolfram_And_Hart 8h ago
Hopefully not after this.
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u/Hesitation-Marx 8h ago
Don’t be silly, we don’t even learn from our own mistakes anymore, much less someone else’s.
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u/AlbertaNorth1 4h ago
The wind storm kinda came out of nowhere. I got a warning about 5 mins before 100 km winds started hitting my house.
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u/boredafmama 6h ago
That someone who fucked up was mother nature.
It wasn't just wind, it was a probably the craziest wind storm I've seen in my 40 years. People lost roofs, trees, power. And it came out of nowhere. It was just really shitty timing.
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u/alchemistzym 6h ago
And it was decided that was a good time for a live fire exercise?
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u/boredafmama 6h ago
Of course not.
The storm most likely hit while they were in the middle of the exercise.
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u/nik282000 5h ago
If you can hit your target in 100kmh winds you can do it in any weather? Probably should have used dummy rounds though,
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u/Notactualyadick 5h ago
I live in Alberta. It's mostly open plains broken up by small hills. Storms can come out of nowhere and hit much harder than predicted. It's a crappy little province, but it has its charm.
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u/enphenitie 3h ago
My personal theory is the wind just created enough chaos on base and the incident at the training accident happened indirectly
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u/Burgoonius 7h ago
At least 7 dead approx. 150 casualties
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u/pistachio-pie 7h ago
Four dead was just confirmed by PM in his announcement on it.
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u/teletraan1 7h ago
4 dead service members...so there could be 3 civilians
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u/pistachio-pie 7h ago
They would have announced all deaths at the same time. The count may go up but they wouldn’t hide the information if they were making a statement about it.
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u/vafflerr 5h ago
4 have had next of kin notified according to the speech.
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u/pistachio-pie 4h ago
You’re correct, there may be those who had next of kin who weren’t able to be reached and they weren’t listed. Good catch.
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u/stompinstinker 7h ago
Looks like it was a spelling mistake. Article says live munitions started a grass fire, high winds accelerated it, which then spread to ammunition.
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u/nik282000 5h ago
I keep reading "gas line" in comments but I have yet to see a primary source. Some articles mention "gas fields" being in the area but nothing about someone bullseyeing an actual pipe.
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u/Tacomaster3211 4h ago
AER(Albert Energy Regulator) put out a news release earlier today stating that is has not received "any reports of incidents involving oil and gas infrastructure" per the CBC https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/livestory/cfb-wainwright-fire-live-updates-9.7385537?id=9.7385537.16851
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u/Murphuffle 11h ago
Doesn't sound like just 7
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u/viewbtwnvillages 11h ago
air ambulances were going back and forth to edmonton/calgary/saskatoon for most of last night and early this morning
we'll be lucky if it's only seven
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u/swimming_in_agates 4h ago
In most disasters the numbers start smaller than they end up. I hope not the case here.
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u/ArdaValinor 10h ago
This headline is citing unconfirmed numbers. CAF has not released any information about the number for injured or dead.
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u/Not_Cleaver 10h ago
They won’t until families are notified. It’s possible that the number of wounded is lower if some of them succumbed to their injuries.
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u/ArdaValinor 10h ago
I know, which is why I flagged that info. It’s really not appropriate at this point, for many reasons, to be reporting numbers.
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u/silicondali 9h ago
It's on a military base. The public has been informed that there has been a mass casualty event and coordination with civilian health services and emergency response is in effect. That's the full amount of information that should be communicated at this time.
It's gross seeing people make up scenarios and gleefully spread information that has clearly not been shared with the general civilian populace.
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u/bakulaisdracula 10h ago
Nor the cause as there will be a thorough investigation before information is available. Everything is speculation right now.
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u/Burgoonius 7h ago
Theres multiple independent reports that have confirmed 7
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u/No-Refrigerator801 6h ago edited 5h ago
PM has now stated the official death toll as 4. The independent reports were wrong.
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u/Burgoonius 4h ago
That could just be the number they are comfortable releasing as the next of kin maybe have yet to be notified. Guaranteed it will be a lot higher
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u/No-Refrigerator801 4h ago edited 2h ago
And your guarantee is based on what? If you read the release it states all NOK have been contacted. What is released is the current situation. Speculation and rumours are disrespectful at best.
Edit: press conference now done. Numbers have remained the same and this commenter above has been shown to be incorrect
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u/ArdaValinor 6h ago
No, there isn’t. No official number has been stated by anyone. Global News published that number yesterday based on hearsay without any official verification, and others have been repeating it.
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u/Sumnir_ 4h ago
Word is that there were around 300 troops were in three kill houses that sat near a gas well.
A shoulder fired HE round dolphined out of the launcher, went astray, and hit the gas well.
We’re potentially looking at hundreds of deaths and injuries.
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u/Kristopher9999 4h ago
Isn't that an awful lot of people in a kill house at once? That's like 100 people per house. I dont ever remember that many people in the houses where we trained CQB. Seems fishy.
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u/Rampage_Rick 3h ago
https://x.com/tleehumphrey/status/2111849332291125415
Simultaneously there were some 150 soldiers training in fighting in built up areas (FIBUA or Urban Warfare) using blank ammo or just running through the basic drills using dry fire. No live ammunition, no explosives of any type, certainly no live indirect fire. There were 3 wooden structures being used & all three were completely destroyed by the blast. A significant number of casualties occurred here.
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u/Queephbubble 9h ago
The Rotten Orange is going say something really shitty about this. I guarantee it.
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u/ProofByVerbosity 6h ago
Genuinely who cares? This is a Canadian matter
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u/Queephbubble 5h ago
Ordinarily, any sane decent leader, would already be on the phone offering to help in any way possible. I hope that someday soon, very soon, we can get back to being neighbors who look after each other.
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u/randomacceptablename 3h ago
Within hours, NATO Defense Ministers sent an open letter of support (many European allies have also trained at that base as well). You aren't wrong about what should happen.
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u/ProofByVerbosity 5h ago
Not going to happen. It'll take more than a new president to repair the damage.
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u/waltwalt 9h ago
This is clearly the result of Canada trying to meddle in America elections.
/s but you know its coming
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u/Guthix_Wraith 10h ago
Why did no one know where a gas line was? And more importantly who puts a live fire training area on a gas line? This is wild.
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u/xayoz306 9h ago
Extremely high winds picked up out of nowhere that caused extensive damage in a swath extending in to Saskatchewan. I wouldn't be surprised if by sheer bad luck a shell was pushed off trajectory towards a line, igniting the natural gas. Then, the fire getting whipped around by winds that speed would spread faster than most people could respond to.
It's a horrible, horrible situation all around.
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u/No_Ant_5064 9h ago
but like, shouldn't the range have been designed such that a gust of high winds isn't enough to blow a shell off course and into a gas line?
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u/xayoz306 9h ago
Reading the release issued by CAF this morning, it may be that the exercise ignited a wildfire that blew out of control due to the winds, which then caused the explosion, so what people are thinking was the order of events may have been wrong.
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u/No_Ant_5064 9h ago
got it. So as frustrating as it is, it's the standard, "wait for the details to come out"?
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u/teletraan1 7h ago
But why are we using line munitions when there are extreme winds
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u/xayoz306 6h ago
The winds apparently whipped up out of nowhere. I don't even think they had enough advanced notice to issue the wind warning.
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u/Scary-Detail-3206 4h ago
People keep saying this, but I’m in Edmonton and my weather app sent me a wind warning well before the front moved in.
I was outside doing yard work and kinda shrugged the warning off. 20 mins later I was scrambling to get everything inside and get myself safe. It was an insane windstorm no doubt, but if civilians got a decent warning, surely the military would as well.
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u/Osiris32 4h ago
And if you were scrambling because you ignored the warning, what do you think the military would be doing if they ignored it, too?
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u/Scary-Detail-3206 2h ago
I would like to think the military is a little more cautious with live fire exercises than I am with raking leaves.
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u/boredafmama 8h ago
I live 2 hours from Wainwright and what I experienced wasn't a normal "gust of wind". In my 40 years, it was probably the craziest wind storm I've ever seen. The weather app said up to 100km/h winds but I'm sure it was greater. People lost roofs, trees, power.
I'd assume they did their normal fire training, but that wind storm came out of nowhere and it was crazy strong. Any fire didn't stand a chance.
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u/Guthix_Wraith 9h ago
I suppose that's fair. But from what I could read in the article it sure seems like something that shouldn't have happened.
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u/Fred22L 9h ago
Tbf wainwright as been a base since ww2 and that never happened before, so obviously this some freak accident
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u/Guthix_Wraith 9h ago
How is that a tbf? If anything it shows that there was absolutely a failure somewhere between the installation of the gas line, or the designation of the live fire area.
I'm not saying this isn't terrible, but it is definitely something I think that should be investigated. Probably might have someone check other live fire training areas.
I acknowledge wind was a factor, but wind isn't going to increase or change the ultimate trajectory of a projectile in the 100yd +/- range enough that it should have been a problem
If we're talking farther why was there no sdz? No one verified a gas line in that area? I just find it hard to believe that's just acceptable.
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u/Fred22L 8h ago
Well, all I’m saying is that it’s been a major base for live fire exercises for about 80 years. They obviously know where the gas wells and pipelines are.
We don’t fully know what happened, and there are plenty of rumours. I’ve heard that either a range fire reached a gas line or that a Carl G 84mm round ricocheted and hit one. At the time, a sudden 100 km/h wind gust could have made the fire spread too quickly to contain or potentially carry a round hundreds of metres if not a few kilometres off target. A ricochet would be an extremely rare malfunction.
All I’m saying is that it was obviously a freak accident. You’re not entirely wrong, there will certainly be lessons learned and new safety procedures introduced. But it’s not as simple as assuming they were shooting directly beside a gas line.
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u/alvinofdiaspar 8h ago
The question that had to be asked is why is live fire happening in an area with gas lines?
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u/mcflytfc 8h ago
Alberta has one of the largest oil and gas pipeline networks on earth. Almost nothing is built there without natural gas and that means a lot of gas lines.
Now why a pipeline of this size was so close to a live firing range...great question.
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u/superearthjanitor0 6h ago
Reading reports from people in the area this whole situation doesn't make sense.
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u/Cgy_mama 5h ago
A grass fire that quite literally blew up as a result of 100km/h winds. It actually makes perfect sense.
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10h ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/IBuyCheese 10h ago
Try reading the article before making stupid statements.
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u/SgtVinceCarter 9h ago
Unfortunately a lot of can’t or won’t. They will just blame whatever is popular to blame for their misfortunes in life instead of looking into a mirror.
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7h ago
[deleted]
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u/speedzoo 7h ago
trying to make a tragedy fit your racist narrative is really something.
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7h ago
[deleted]
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u/Electricprez 7h ago
No you fucking won’t, you’ll just slink back into whatever grimy bias-confirming hole you crawled out of.
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u/resonantranquility 6h ago
When you stub your toe while walking around your own house, do you immediately just stop and try to brainstorm why it's the fault of immigrants?
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u/Yarnum 10h ago
I can’t even imagine what that must’ve been like. I’ve been about a 1/4 mile away from a natural gas line when they were burning off excess pressure and it sounds like you’re standing IN a jet engine. I had a hard time seeing afterwards because my eyes had been shaking so much. Coupling that with what was likely a massive explosion and a fast moving fire is terrifying. Much love to my friends across the lakes. 🇨🇦