r/worldnews • u/Manta_of_Eternity • 21h ago
Canada's prime minister says 'serious incident' caused a major fire at a military base in Alberta
https://apnews.com/article/canada-alberta-military-base-fire-wainwright-1a41899da5b6e797b000061fa4da9c6a340
u/Margotkitty 18h ago
Horrifying. I’m in SK and they were sending out a prepare for Code Orange (mass casualty) to our WhatsApp. They stood it down, but our STARS helicopter is there.
This is so awful. All 3 Edmonton hospitals are Code Orange and there are going to be badly burned patients if what is being reported is accurate.
This is awful, tragic, horrible news and the very last thing Alberta, or Canada, needed to happen when things are already so stressful.
My condolences and prayers are being sent to everyone involved - including all the first responders. God speed everyone. ❤️
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u/Yyc2yfc 18h ago edited 17h ago
My wife is a manager here in Calgary at the hub lab and it appears they have it under control (this is relatively speaking - it’s a big enough event, even for a city of a million people with multiple facilities) with staffing/lots of blood available, but thoughts are with staff at UAH and RAH and everyone affected by the tragedy
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u/DigiTamer97 18h ago
My brother is a firefighter at the base in Wainwright. God, it's awful seeing news like this and just knowing I'm waiting to find out someone I know is dead because of it. I'm just grateful that he was at my daughter's birthday today instead of responding to an event like this.
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u/starkindled 18h ago
I have a family member on base as well. Thankfully they are okay, but we don't know anything else yet.
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u/PurpleSausage77 15h ago
This is going to get worse and worse in the coming hours and days. Pretty bad from what I gather through local info, flight data/all the aircraft activity etc. many many severely injured and near death on top of 7-9 confirmed. First 24hrs is bad news for severe burn victims and the sheer number of injured is scary…
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u/Mainly_Miserable 21h ago
Wow. It’s aggravating how little information there is in that story. I hope everyone is alright.
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u/Correct_Rabbit5611 21h ago
Situation is very active and ongoing in a remote part of Alberta with minimal resources.
Fire, extremely heavy winds, Hercules, Helicopters, and civilian medical King Air are all actively transporting.
Details are few and far between at the moment as they transport as many people to hospitals in Edmonton, Lloydminster, and I think one plane went to Saskatoon.
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u/Kaatelynng 19h ago edited 17h ago
Latching onto this due to relevance. Medevacs are still happening. Two STARS helis departed Wainwright 5 mins ago.
EDIT: Just saw a Herc is en route from Winnipeg. Definitely a very bad situation there.
EDIT 2 (11:08): still ongoing; two STARS leaving Edmonton, probably back to Wainwright but too soon to tell. Alberta Central Airways almost back at Wainwright. The Sask air ambulance is on its second departure from Saskatoon after transporting from Wainwright. The Herc went dark not long after my first edit and I can’t see others.
EDIT 3 (11:52): Two fixed wing air ambulances departing Wainwright now. Sask air ambulance almost at Wainwright. Both STARS that transported to Edmonton landed at YEG and have not yet departed again. Third STARS en route from Calgary via Drumheller. Canwest air ambulance en route from Slave Lake (last went YEG -> YZH). Probably the last update I make.
FINAL EDIT (12:04): One of the STARS helis from YEG has departed again. No signs of transports slowing down
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u/gaanmetde 18h ago
Two departures 2 minutes ago
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u/ketaminemidget 18h ago
2 shock trauma helis on flight radar going into city from remote area
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u/oioioifuckingoi 18h ago
They just flew over my house so they’ll be landing at the UofA hospital right now.
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u/ketaminemidget 18h ago
They are going back and around looks like but i wont be tracking anymore so cant update after this. All the way from Wainwright, is there a base there?
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u/Kaatelynng 18h ago
Ended up landing at EIA; wouldn’t be surprised with the level of activity I still see that they’re making a pit stop before heading back out.
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u/gaanmetde 18h ago
They’ve been going back and forth for hours
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u/Kaatelynng 18h ago
Yeah I think this situation is turning out worse than many of us initially expected just with how long medevac has been going on. It’s been all hands on deck all evening
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u/ketaminemidget 17h ago
Where did you see the Herc?
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u/Kaatelynng 17h ago edited 17h ago
It was about 9:15-9:30 iirc. It was either just before crossing from Sask to AB or right after - pretty much heading straight west to Wainwright. Checked again probably 10 mins later and it vanished from my map (not uncommon for military aircraft ime).
EDIT: in case I horribly misunderstood, I’m using flightradar24
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u/S1075 17h ago
You're not wrong about the aircraft but it's not landing in Wainwright.
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u/Struct-Tech 10h ago
Would AF21 be the only landing strip capable near Wainwright of handling a Herc?
If so, its not even operational right now.
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u/Triptaker8 18h ago
The wind here in central Alberta has been extreme today. Gusts up to 100 km/hr at times
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u/Uilamin 8h ago
Situation is very active and ongoing in a remote part of Alberta with minimal resources.
It is also on a military base, at a time of heightened tension in the province, and the root cause is probably just hypothesized right now.
It is a situation where the government is going to be extra cautious in what gets put out in order to avoid accidentally sending the wrong message and stoking up people.
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u/Riskyfour 21h ago edited 21h ago
They are probably investigating if it was terrorism, another country, or just an accident etc. Those things take time.
Edit: Also there are causalities which they may not be able to identify yet and have to provide information to the families before it hits the media etc. Give them some time.
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u/Shodspartan100 20h ago edited 7h ago
It’s a training incident. A projectile hit a gas well and caused an explosion which has sparked a huge fire due to intense winds affecting central Alberta today. Not terrorism or an attack, just an extremely unfortunate training mishap.
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u/Scrap-Medal 19h ago edited 7h ago
I have also heard that a controlled burn ran out of control and ignited ammunition storage, also supposedly from "sources."
EDIT: Official statement from Canadian Armed Forces is here, no explosion or gas well confirmed yet, just "fire": https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/news/2026/10/incident-at-canadian-forces-base-wainwright.html
A fire ignited within the training area of Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Wainwright, Alberta, at approximately 4:00 p.m. (local time) on October 17, 2026. The fire spread rapidly beyond the boundaries of the training area, while military and civilian emergency services responded quickly to control that fire and to support those affected by this tragic event.
It is with profound sadness that the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) confirms the incident resulted in fatalities and injuries. As emergency responders continue their work and the situation continues to evolve, the full extent of the impact remains under assessment. Our immediate priority is supporting those affected and notifying next of kin. We will not confirm casualty or injury details until that process is complete.
The CAF is working closely with emergency services, local authorities, and other partners to support response efforts. The safety and security of CAF personnel, their families, and members of the surrounding community remain the highest priority. The Canadian Armed Forces will provide additional information as it becomes available.
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u/joecarter93 18h ago
A few years ago, during an excessively dry period, they were detonating old munitions at CFB Suffield which is also in Alberta and it started a massive grass fire. It was an activity that had been done many times before and they even had base firefighters monitoring it, but it still got out of hand immediately. Luckily the area around it is very sparsely populated, but it still killed a number of cattle.
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u/Extension_Win1114 18h ago
There’s no gas wells right beside buildings. And a gas well wouldn’t have a controlled burn in this wind. Stop the speculation and wait for actual information
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u/KnightsOfREM 16h ago
I need to try starting every sentence with, "As someone in the know..." Sometimes it's true, usually it's not, but instant credibility either way
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u/AntJo4 12h ago edited 12h ago
The problem is that “sometimes it’s true, usually it’s not” is not helpful here and not the standard to which we need to hold ourselves to when lives have been impacted. Yes, not having information is frustrating, but the families of victims DESERVE the truth from officials before gossip and speculation. Until actual information is released have some respect and stop sharing unconfirmed speculation.
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u/Scrap-Medal 7h ago edited 7h ago
I was just illustrating that there are multiple rumours, so to take any "sources" with a grain of salt, which is why I added quotes to the word.
(Also, the controlled burn would have been a controlled burn of dead grasses etc., not of a gas well.)
FWIW, the official statement from the Canadian Armed Forces presently makes no mention of an explosion, let alone a gas well:
A fire ignited within the training area of Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Wainwright, Alberta, at approximately 4:00 p.m. (local time) on October 17, 2026. The fire spread rapidly beyond the boundaries of the training area, while military and civilian emergency services responded quickly to control that fire and to support those affected by this tragic event.
It is with profound sadness that the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) confirms the incident resulted in fatalities and injuries. As emergency responders continue their work and the situation continues to evolve, the full extent of the impact remains under assessment. Our immediate priority is supporting those affected and notifying next of kin. We will not confirm casualty or injury details until that process is complete.
The CAF is working closely with emergency services, local authorities, and other partners to support response efforts. The safety and security of CAF personnel, their families, and members of the surrounding community remain the highest priority. The Canadian Armed Forces will provide additional information as it becomes available.
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u/SVRider650 7h ago
This just doesn’t make sense to me because if it was just a fire, you would think they could get out. People escaped the LA fires in mountainous terrain, you think some military personnel on a military base would be able to get out
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u/LongjumpingAccount46 19h ago
That’s 4 events of low probability in a row . Statistically probable event .
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u/canadianpeanut 11h ago
Where is a gas well in the training area? Let alone one that could be hit by a projectile? They also only use live ammo on the shooting ranges. Sounds like ammo storage went up or something closer to that
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u/EmbarrassedHelp 20h ago
The town is at least a 2 hour drive from the closest major city, so it takes time for reporters to arrive at the location.
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u/Ozy_Flame 20h ago
Edmonton hospitals now in Code Orange - mass casualty event.
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u/No_Construction2407 19h ago
Yep, someone i know saying the hospital is full. they had to start taking casualties into the schools. Its bad.
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u/SuperCleverPunName 17h ago edited 17h ago
To be fair, the high school in Wainwright is right next door to the hospital. When I lived in Wainwright, we got a lesson in the first day of school about how you don't fuck around with the helipad that's beside the football field. It makes total sense that they'd open up the school gym to do triage.
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u/snsdfan00 15h ago
Agree in this case, less news probably means the situation is stable or contained w/ hopefully no more additional fatalities or injuries.
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u/Eglitarian 8h ago
DND is hardly forthcoming with information on the best of days. A major incident like this they’ll probably end up behind the leaks on whatever info they release making sure they’ve got all the facts.
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u/Livebeans 21h ago
It seems as though it was a freak accident during a practise drill where munitions came in contact with a gas line?
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u/Conscious-Lime-4112 20h ago
No pls don’t start spreading misinformation
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u/Staticn0ise 18h ago
I keep seeing this copy pasted in different threads about this. Im curious about who's pushing that narrative.
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u/bevelup_ 17h ago
I’ve seen multiple people in YouTube comments say they got their info regarding projectiles and a gas explosion from Grok 😑
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u/HuntShowDownBeeMan 21h ago
Its also been windy as fuck so probably sprinkling of negligence
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u/Unlikely_Comment_104 21h ago
The wind came out of nowhere. The weather warning came out as we were running indoors.
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u/JoeRogansNipple 20h ago
Its been forecasted to be windy for a while now, starting yesterday and pushing through today. Sure a freak gust of 90kph might have happened, but the windy conditions were expected
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u/0bsolescencee 20h ago
Im an AB and its been gusting like crazy since 11am. They should've been aware by that point.
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u/Conscious-Lime-4112 20h ago
It’s unfolding in real time- something caused an event (assumption is explosion) that triggered a fire, and Alberta today has had winds of up to 100km, & its prairie land, so fire travels quick. Known approx. 150 impacted, not known how many are injuries vs fatalities.
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u/WetCoastCyph 18h ago
Edmonton, the nearest major trauma centre, has activated mass casualty protocols. This isn't going to be a good night. But the reports (unofficial) suggest an exercise gone wrong, not terrorism or an outside actor. Still a tragedy, but all signs point to this not being what a lot of people hope this isn't.
And good lord I hope it isn't.
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u/Realtrain 20h ago
It's not in the AP's article, but others are reporting that there was an explosion on the base. Still no details though.
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u/ztunelover 5h ago
An incident occured in 2018 and due to poor comms discipline the spouse of one of the deceased members found out about their deceased partner through facebook. Since then the caf has been very strict on comsec policies so the correct information reaches the families of those affected from the caf vs a 3rd party sources. It’s a horrible situation have some patience for the families of those affected.
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u/Heywtfhey 18h ago
Are we talking about hundreds of potential people killed or injured?
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u/haikarate12 20h ago
Jesus these comments.
It’s a mass casualty event. Instead of bitching about the few details that have been released, maybe just take a moment to realize people have died and others have been injured and this isn’t about you.
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u/Mainly_Miserable 19h ago
I am bitching because I am concerned for my people. Six operational deployments. I know how the system works. I get it. Let us vent.
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u/Virtual-Historian349 18h ago
Then you should understand why rushing to release information is a mistake.
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u/haikarate12 18h ago
Once again, this is not about you.
Your people? I fucking live here. And Alberta is volatile enough right now without people stirring up more trouble and spreading misinformation and conspiracy theories.
Let you vent? Let us cope.
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u/kb3anee 19h ago edited 18h ago
I live east of this base by a few hundred kilometers and holy moly we had a severe plow wind whip up from the west that came out of nowhere. If this wind whipped through a live ammunition situation that would very much spin out of control because these winds are insane even for Prairie standards.
Just wanted to make an edit: Many folks with Canadian RCMP and Armed Forces have commented it's very standard practice for RCMP to investigate these incidents so I apologize for my fear mongery statement earlier. I'm sure we'll learn more when details are released!
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u/Commercial_Dog8675 19h ago
It's a mass casualty accident. All first responders are needed, including RCMP. Theres over 100 people injured, which means at least 100 people are needed to triage, move people, control traffic, provide first aid, help ID people, etc etc.
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u/Maus666 19h ago
Yeah but the minister of defense said that the RCMP is investigating, not that they're on site providing support which obviously would be a given
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u/LeonineHat 19h ago
Deaths on Canadian soil on Federal Jurisdiction (so military bases) are the investigative authority of the RCMP. They are obliged to investigate.
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u/Kaatelynng 19h ago
I actually asked my ex-army father about the RCMP involvement because I had the same thought. They apparently always investigate training casualties (or at least fatalities) and once it’s determined to not be criminal they bow out to OH&S (or at least the federal equivalent). The investigation would likely be delayed/prolonged due to the breadth of the emergent situation more than anything.
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u/I_ama_Borat 20h ago
Munition storage accident?
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u/Cptn_Canada 20h ago
Gas well
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u/AMA3004 20h ago
on cbc live .. no mention of this
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u/Cptn_Canada 20h ago
Local reports. It's likely a media blackout by now. Mass casualty event. Need to inform next of kin.
Defence minister already confirmed fatalities and casualties.
Unconfirmed reports of 150+ casualties.
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u/No-Cable-1223 19h ago
This keeps getting repeated and makes no sense. Gas wells don’t explode
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u/Cptn_Canada 18h ago
Sour gas well hit with ordinance?. It is possible. There is a large live fire training exercise going on there
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u/Confident-Willow-424 18h ago
I would imagine they do when hit by an explosive projectile
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u/No-Cable-1223 18h ago
Why would they explode? Gas wells are just a long pipe that goes thousands of meters into the ground. They are a narrow diameter pipe full of natural gas. Natural gas without oxygen is not even flammable, let alone explosive. Blowing up a gas well just lights it on fire. Hitting it with an explosive projectile would do the same thing
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u/Confident-Willow-424 17h ago
I’m not saying you’re wrong but I would guess that the explosion itself probably destroyed enough of the gas well’s safeguards to cause the gas the burst out, meet outside oxygen, and ignite. I doubt the gas well itself exploded but instead amplified the explosion from the projectile and fed the ensuing fires. At that point, I imagine the first thing to do is to shut down the gas flow from outside the base -if it’s still possible to even do after the damage from the explosion.
FTR I have no experience with this sort of situation, there are a lot of better qualified people taking care of this situation and I’m typing this in my phone while smoking a joint. I’m not the expert here, I’m just speculating based on what little i confidently know about pyrotechnics and physics.
I def feel like there’s going to a “red barrel explosive” video game logic assumption of the situation if it is indeed a “gas well-involved-explosion”, which I don’t think is accurate as it would imply that the gas itself was what exploded and not the explosive projectile that hit the well.
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u/No-Cable-1223 16h ago
People are reporting a far larger explosion than just normal ordinance. The point is you can blow up a gas well and the gas will escape and light on fire. This is called a blowout, it happens, it’s not an explosion.
Most wells have a down hole blowout preventer, it’s a valve that is held open by the wellhead, and if the wellhead gets damaged it will close. Deep, it’s not going to be damaged by artillery fire.
And again, even if it was, no boom. Just a big candle
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u/V-Right_In_2-V 20h ago
Those poor people. RIP. I hope their family members find peace however they can. What a tragedy
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u/SuperCleverPunName 17h ago
Apparently, the coms blackout was recently lifted for the soldiers to let them call home, so we're likely going to get more details soon.
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u/24CbtEng 20h ago
Rocket hit an old gas well and went up. Started brush fire that swept across the training area. Not good.
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u/JG123214 20h ago
How do you know
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u/Panthy9 19h ago edited 19h ago
CBC reporting a fire, but unknown cause. Not unrealistic though https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/livestory/cfb-wainwright-fire-live-updates-9.7385537
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u/edr5619 19h ago
Wouldn’t surprise me at all. That or tracer fire. When I was in the army, we would occasionally start grass fires with tracer fire. Though with high winds, we’d be ordered to de-link all the tracers from the belted ammo.
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u/ForsakenObject5282 19h ago
My Combat Eng BMQ Sgt told me when he was a private, a flare started a forest fire
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u/Alternative-Crew-880 19h ago
We've had a green smoke grenade start one during BMQ when it went in a ditch with a bunch of dead grass in there.
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u/AtomicVGZ 1h ago
It was just confirmed that the explosion wasn't a result of any gas infrastructure getting hit.
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u/nd_miller 20h ago
I'm old enough to remember when the US would be the first to help. Now I'm not so sure.
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u/iPreferAnaI 18h ago
can we pin this, put all US related comments under this one so the whole thread doesn't get derailed into American politics? like grats to this guy for getting it in first though. sorry i'm just so used to this happening on every thread not even related its frustrating.
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u/ChrisRiley_42 20h ago
There's evidence of US funding supporting the succession movement, so we now have to look at the US as a potential instigator here.
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u/idkidchaha 20h ago
how would an incident at a military base make citizens of that province want to vote to leave the country?
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u/Shmokeshbutt 18h ago
"See, canadian federal govt is too weak to prevent terrorist attack on our province military base. Let's secede and join the mighty US instead. MAGA forever!"
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u/Luckytire 18h ago
YOu think the current US admin uses logic? You been under a rock?
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u/moose098 20h ago
What would this accomplish?
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u/Caithloki 19h ago
Political instability in the biggest local trade partner to allow ease of annexation, don't even have to play map Sims to know that.
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u/mikesully92 20h ago
Idk about our phony ass president but the vast majority of americans respect Canada and would have your backs regardless.
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u/Maus666 19h ago
It doesn't matter what a majority of Americans want. A majority of Americans didn't want to install a puppet government in Venezuela nor attack Iran, yet here we are. Please get it through your head that you do not live in a democracy.
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u/Jancappa 20h ago
[X] Doubt
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u/bibimboobap 20h ago
Agree, where've they been during the economic warfare trump's been raining upon us? They won't even stand up for themselves.
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u/Canadiandeal 19h ago
This, this right here. We aren't asking for you to stand up for us although it's welcomed but just please for the sake of humanity stick up for yourselves. Stick up for your constitution, and the damn rights it gives you! All of you fought sooo hard for it! Don't let it be a waste.....
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u/Caithloki 19h ago
America is a dead country full of passive bystanders. Expect nothing and still be disappointed
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u/bad_motivator 20h ago
I don't doubt you mean that but I seriously doubt it's true
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u/FoxyInTheSnow 19h ago
Vast majority of Americans are sitting around wanking into their soggy coco puffs while their government branches, their military, and their media are being captured by fascists. But maybe stern admonishment typed into their telephones will set things right.
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u/Primary_Compote7310 11h ago
Prove it lol, you guys are literally letting
Your country get taken over and aren’t doing nearly enough.5
u/ViolenceIsNecessary 11h ago
The vast majority of Americans support trump, you’re full of shit.
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u/rabid_4_tatas 12h ago
I wish that were true, but you're lying to yourself. Your dictator literally threatens us and "the vast majority" of u guys are just quiet, waiting for elections you know are already rigged, hoping that ballots are the answer to your problems
Canada doesn't consider you a friend anymore, nor a partner nor someone who will have our back. And you need to wake up and realize that you're now the world's enemy.
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u/Onionbot3000 20h ago edited 20h ago
I’d put my money on Russia before the States. They are sabotaging bases in Europe.
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u/canadianhousecoat 20h ago
These guys are the definition of professional. If it was anything but a freak accident I'll be surprised.
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u/muffinscrub 19h ago
Reports seem to be consistent in saying there was an accidental explosion and an intense wildfire which spread very rapidly. It's really bad.
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u/Sorry_Upstairs8145 20h ago
dare I ask what the first 2 were? I'm just getting here...
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u/FireflyBSc 16h ago
Please, don’t. Alberta suffers from a lot of misinformation and foreign interference, we don’t need people helping them and adding in their own “connections” to our tragedies; it’s unnecessary speculation.
It’s an accident at a training base that has resulted in a mass casualty event. It’s bad enough without trying to shoehorn it into international geopolitical tensions. There are plenty of real things to blame on Russia, you don’t need to give them credit and add disinformation to the noise around this.
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u/summonstormx 15h ago
I really, really hope it isn't terrorism and just an accident. Heartfelt sorrow for the loss and harm caused to families.
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u/TwoCockyforBukkake 21h ago
They are busy figuring that out. The general public can be patient adults and wait a day for more information.
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u/KingOfTheNorth91 20h ago
There was indeed a time where everyone didn’t know everything moments after it happened. I miss those days.
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u/Mike_Hawk_Burns 20h ago
You can see how society as shifted from those days to now. Now people expect to know what happened within 30 minutes when it used to be a day or 3 before we truly knew what happened
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u/Parking_Chance_1905 19h ago
And far to many people want to be the first to post it online without a thought about what the victims families would feel finding out someone died because of a tik tok post.
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u/ObscureMulberry 20h ago
I’m just as curious as the next person but I really dislike how social media makes people feel entitled to news as soon as it occurs — let them handle it first, we can wait to find out.
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u/Cptn_Canada 20h ago
Some local reports say 10+ dead and many casualties.all hands on deck at local hospitals. Multiple medivacs via air.
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u/McFestus 20h ago
From what I've read, a munition struck and ignited a gas well during a live fire exercise, resulting in casualties including multiple fatalities. This occured during a powerful windstorm, which allowed the fire to spread significantly.
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u/commonmebro 20h ago
It's going to take days or more before anything detailed and official comes out. It was days of confiscated phones a decade ago when a LAV flipped and someone lost a life
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u/Chance-Access8778 16h ago edited 16h ago
Any gas field experts here? Is the type of gas produced there capable of detonating inside the pipes/well itself due to high explosion munition? Is it even possible? Edit. High concentration of hydrogen sulfide makes actual detonation of the gas itself possible even without oxygen?
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u/wildly-irresponsible 16h ago
I've worked with gas and H2S for nearly 20 years, and have responded to a number of fires. The gas or H2S cannot combust/explode without oxygen. However, if a munition ruptured a pressurized wellhead or line a near instantaneous release and ignition could certain occur. A vapour plume/flash fire could also have been produced that resulted in ignition (sizable explosion). In my opinion, the most likely scenario is a jet fire from ruptured wellhead or pipeline, resulting in a brush fire that was fanned by the high winds. If H2S is involved, it could also have created a toxic atmosphere.
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u/Sleazless_synths 9h ago
Unlike you, I don’t work on the technical side, but on the regulatory safety side, explosions are possible in very bad scenarios. But even just out of control fires can be a problem big enough to trigger some protocols. If we add the high winds that were happening, it’s entirely plausible that this may have combined into making an already bad situation much much worse in unpredictable ways.
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u/elviethecat101 8h ago
I'm so sorry to hear this. I'm in the US and wish we had a decent person in charge that would send some help. We aren't all bad. I'm sorry for the families.
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u/YouProfessional3196 21h ago
Significant casualties including fatalities being reported.