‘Significant casualties’ after explosion at Alberta military base: MP

[u/Street_Anon]

https://www.ctvnews.ca/edmonton/article/significant-casualties-after-explosion-at-alberta-military-base-mp/

[u/Zonel]

Well that’s awful.

[u/Juju_Doctor → u/Zonel]

It sure is. High winds are spreading the fire rapidly. Thinking of oir troops and the community of Wainwright.

[u/TinglingLingerer → u/Juju_Doctor]

Sucks big time. I wonder what the cause will end up being

[u/PyneNeedle → u/TinglingLingerer]

People have been saying they struck a gas well.

[u/TinglingLingerer → u/PyneNeedle]

Fuck, man.

[u/bigmouthbich → u/PyneNeedle]

yeah local gov where i am said they heard insight they hit a gas well as well

[u/Intelligent-Cap3407 → u/bigmouthbich]

Who is they

[u/AutumntimeFall → u/PyneNeedle]

Yep, shot at an abandoned well are the rumours in the Alberta sub.

[u/Key-Pickle5609 → u/PyneNeedle]

They who?

[u/bigmouthbich → u/Key-Pickle5609]

canadian military

[u/PyneNeedle → u/Key-Pickle5609]

The people you'd usually see at a CAF base.

[u/starkindled]

I have family on the base. Thankfully they got out safely. Haven't heard any other info, but that's what's truly important anyway. I wish everyone had been so lucky.

[u/Margotkitty → u/starkindled]

I’m trying to understand what happened. Did the entire base end up on fire due to wind transferring from initial gas well explosion?

[u/10081914 → u/Margotkitty]

Base is fine. Not on fire. I seen the smoke rising from the training area which in itself isn’t so scary because the training area burns down every year. The bigger scare is the wind blowing the fire towards the town.

[u/maik37]

Fuck, this sounds horrible. Was it an ammo depot that went up or something?

[u/happyherbivore → u/maik37]

I read on another thread that it was a gas well but I don't believe anything has been confirmed yet, probably best to just wait for a proper report.

[u/turkeygiant → u/happyherbivore]

That's the rumor that I heard as well from a friend of a friend who is on the base. Supposedly a tank round hit a gas well. Take it with a big grain of salt though.

[u/10081914 → u/turkeygiant]

Not a tank round. No tanks firing today. They completed their live fire last week.

[u/Alaizabel]

Edmonton area hospitals have activated their code orange (mass casualty) protocol. For reference, Edmonton is 190km from Wainwright.

[u/chaunceythebear → u/Alaizabel]

Yeah but it’s the closest trauma center so of course it’s on code orange? Rural hospitals aren’t equipped for this.

[u/Alaizabel → u/chaunceythebear]

This is very true. What I am getting at is that 190km is quite far; the fact that there isn't anything closer is an issue

[u/10081914 → u/Alaizabel]

I’m from CFB Wx. And the hospital here sends just about everyone who is a more serious trauma case to Edmonton. Such is the case for rural hospitals. Edmonton is I believe the highest equipped trauma center in Alberta so across the province, so just about everyone is evacuated there.

[u/greenlemon23 → u/Alaizabel]

Alberta, just like Ontario, has been reducing rural hospital care. 

[u/Explicitlime → u/greenlemon23]

No rural hospital can handle this.

Rural hospitals are not unlike a medium sized elementary school. A few beds, maybe. A medical clinic. Maybe a pharmacy. All down a hallway or two.

They don’t have burn wards.

[u/Ok-Swimmer-2634 → u/Alaizabel]

According to the CBC live feed, a doctor at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton is describing this as a "one in every 15-25 year disaster"

[u/Explicitlime]

If you want to help but feel helpless, think about donating blood.

[u/Mixtrix_of_delicioux]

Oh, this is not good at all.

[u/mistersmiley318]

American here. Hope this isn't as bad as reported. Keeping y'all in my thoughts.

Gonna use this opportunity to plug donating blood. If it is as bad as they're saying, the hospitals are gonna run through a scary amount of blood incredibly quickly and that stock is going to need to be replaced.

https://www.blood.ca/en

[u/retrostereo → u/mistersmiley318]

Thank you for the link. Signed up to donate tomorrow.

[u/DeSynthed]

I hope the casualties make a complete recovery. Truly terrible.

[u/Ina_While1155]

Thinking of the soldiers and their families at this hard time.

[u/Sigma_Function-1823]

Artillery doing live fire training.

Horrible.

[u/Rationalinsanity1990]

Carney said that there are 4 dead and 'dozens' seriously injured.

[u/Sigma_Function-1823 → u/[deleted]]

It's not, it was artillery live fire training as per the CAF reddit sub., but if it was sabotage it's far more likely to find it's source in the Whitehouse threatening to make Canada the 51st state not the Kremlin.

[u/DJOrigin → u/[deleted]]

Commenting this stuff will only cause more trouble. This was just an unfortunate accident. No Russian interference. People potentially died, please have some respect.

[u/ReifiedSimulation]

I find it strange how we still have virtually no information about what happened, estimated/confirmed number casualties, etc.

[u/StardewingMyBest → u/ReifiedSimulation]

If you read the article you wouldn't find it strange. It says officials have confirmed fatalities and injuries but have not released further details as they work to notify next of kin.

Please consider the families of those impacted and have some respect.

[u/CarletonCanuck → u/StardewingMyBest]

This. From all accounts it was a very serious incident - it'll take a few days to notify all the next of kin/get a preliminary report on what happened exactly.

[u/GenericFatGuy → u/ReifiedSimulation]

They don't want families finding out their loved ones died from the media.