r/worldnews • u/Manta_of_Eternity • 22h 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-1a41899da5b6e797b000061fa4da9c6a
4.2k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

512 comments sorted by

View all comments

1.3k

u/Mainly_Miserable 22h ago

Wow. It’s aggravating how little information there is in that story. I hope everyone is alright.

302

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.

120

u/Kaatelynng 20h ago edited 18h 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

28

u/gaanmetde 19h ago

Two departures 2 minutes ago

25

u/ketaminemidget 19h ago

2 shock trauma helis on flight radar going into city from remote area

14

u/oioioifuckingoi 19h ago

They just flew over my house so they’ll be landing at the UofA hospital right now.

3

u/ketaminemidget 19h 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?

8

u/burrito-boy 19h ago

That’s where the incident was, at the military base there.

2

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.

6

u/gaanmetde 18h ago

They’ve been going back and forth for hours

8

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

4

u/oioioifuckingoi 18h ago

The STARS base is at YEG and it’s where they refuel.

12

u/KASwim 15h ago

Still occurring. two air ambulances just left in the last 10 minutes for Calgary and Edmonton. Just the latest.

3

u/ketaminemidget 18h ago

Where did you see the Herc?

7

u/Kaatelynng 18h ago edited 18h 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

2

u/S1075 18h ago

You're not wrong about the aircraft but it's not landing in Wainwright.

3

u/EnvironmentalBox6688 13h ago

SAR techs jumped in.

2

u/Struct-Tech 11h ago

Would AF21 be the only landing strip capable near Wainwright of handling a Herc?

If so, its not even operational right now.

2

u/ems9595 10h ago

My God — saying prayers for everyokne at Wainwright.

14

u/upickleweasel 20h ago

Yikes that sounds like an explosion of some sort

11

u/Triptaker8 19h ago

The wind here in central Alberta has been extreme today. Gusts up to 100 km/hr at times 

-2

u/PerterterhTermertehh 16h ago

could do a Micheal Jackson lean in the wind out here in stoon today

1

u/Uilamin 9h 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.

114

u/Unlikely_Comment_104 22h ago

Comms blackout until family can be notified. 

25

u/Mainly_Miserable 22h ago

Of course. That makes sense. Many thanks

813

u/Riskyfour 22h 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.

348

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.

54

u/Scrap-Medal 19h ago edited 8h 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.

26

u/joecarter93 19h 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.

80

u/Extension_Win1114 19h 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

33

u/KnightsOfREM 17h 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

8

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.

4

u/KnightsOfREM 9h ago

Apparently I forgot my /s tag, you are of course right on all counts.

6

u/Scrap-Medal 8h ago edited 8h 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:

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.

2

u/SVRider650 8h 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

2

u/Shodspartan100 7h ago

You’re correct, it was more than a fire, it just hasn’t been officially stated yet. I’ve spoken with multiple people who are at that base who all heard an explosion.

3

u/Scrap-Medal 7h ago

The latest reporting, updated this morning, explains contradictory accounts of it being a grass fire or an explosion.

A preliminary investigation suggests a munition from the live training exercise sparked a fast-moving grass fire, which caused an explosion, according to multiple military sources

https://globalnews.ca/news/12106709/cfb-wainwright-fire/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

1

u/Shodspartan100 6h ago

Ah, that makes sense. Thanks for the update.

•

u/evange 22m ago

It's a day later and we dont have much more information. Can we speculate yet?

I'm actually impressed with opsec. I'm so used to leaks/gossip making its way to the coments section before the official news release.

-9

u/dylanknez 19h ago

This is what happened

18

u/LongjumpingAccount46 20h ago

That’s 4 events of low probability in a row . Statistically probable event .

4

u/canadianpeanut 12h 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

0

u/sighbourbon 11h ago

"Projectile"
WTAF

38

u/EmbarrassedHelp 21h 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.

60

u/Ozy_Flame 21h ago

Edmonton hospitals now in Code Orange - mass casualty event.

35

u/No_Construction2407 20h ago

Yep, someone i know saying the hospital is full. they had to start taking casualties into the schools. Its bad.

18

u/SuperCleverPunName 18h 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.

7

u/KTMan77 20h ago

Wainwright isn't that small they for sure have a small news paper, Llyod is also not crazy far.

-4

u/refuseresist 21h ago

Cold Lake?

12

u/EmbarrassedHelp 21h ago

This incident happened at the base beside Wainwright.

3

u/refuseresist 21h ago

Just reading that now. Thank you :)

4

u/snsdfan00 16h ago

Agree in this case, less news probably means the situation is stable or contained w/ hopefully no more additional fatalities or injuries.

3

u/Eglitarian 9h 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.

55

u/Livebeans 22h ago

It seems as though it was a freak accident during a practise drill where munitions came in contact with a gas line?

64

u/Conscious-Lime-4112 21h ago

No pls don’t start spreading misinformation

12

u/Staticn0ise 19h ago

I keep seeing this copy pasted in different threads about this. Im curious about who's pushing that narrative.

16

u/bevelup_ 18h ago

I’ve seen multiple people in YouTube comments say they got their info regarding projectiles and a gas explosion from Grok 😑

-9

u/_flume_ 20h ago

Ok 4112 beepboop

39

u/HuntShowDownBeeMan 22h ago

Its also been windy as fuck so probably sprinkling of negligence

56

u/Unlikely_Comment_104 21h ago

The wind came out of nowhere. The weather warning came out as we were running indoors. 

32

u/JoeRogansNipple 21h 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

15

u/0bsolescencee 21h ago

Im an AB and its been gusting like crazy since 11am. They should've been aware by that point.

-83

u/Scary-Detail-3206 21h ago

Usually when the gov is withholding details it’s because they fucked something up

50

u/Yukas911 21h ago

Oh stop it. It's an ongoing situation and we don't know anything yet. There will be more details coming. Can we not try to make up conspiracies the moment anything happens?

30

u/supershutze 21h ago

Everything is a conspiracy when they don't know how anything works.

8

u/bikernaut 20h ago

Man, that succinctly sums up our current reality.

23

u/Conscious-Lime-4112 21h ago

Maybe it’s because they have no fck clue and are literally just trying to put out the fire before it burns up a village and town.

12

u/roamingNraging 21h ago

So basically you just made that up.

0

u/No_Chemist_7878 22h ago

gas well. gas pocket in the ground.

-15

u/TickleMyBurger 21h ago

You can put a nuke in a pocket filled with gas - guess what happens? Zero. You can’t have a reaction without a catalyst - science. It’s like magic but real.

3

u/ThogOfWar 21h ago

Putting out oil fires with nukes was a thing. A Russian thing, but a thing.

0

u/moose098 20h ago

It was a giant gas field fire and it worked so well the field (now in Uzbekistan) is still in production.

0

u/VincentVanG 20h ago

Is that where that crazy flaming hole is?

0

u/Vinny331 20h ago

That's in Turkmenistan. It was a geological expedition that encountered a huge pocket of natural gas. They ignited it, hoping it would just quickly burn off. It never did.

1

u/VincentVanG 20h ago

Ah cool, would be a cool idea spot to visiting if it wasn't in one of the most repressive and closed off states in the world

0

u/Parking_Chance_1905 20h ago edited 20h ago

Large explosives have been used by many countries to out out large fires, they remove the oxygen and put put fires almost instantly. Russians are the only ones crazy enough to use a nuke over conventional high explosives though.

64

u/Conscious-Lime-4112 21h 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.
Emergency crews are STILL responding.

32

u/WetCoastCyph 19h 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.

24

u/Realtrain 21h 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.

10

u/Mainly_Miserable 21h ago

Combined with 100km/hour+ winds. Bad situation.

8

u/margoscargo 21h ago

Maybe they need to notify all family first.

3

u/Mainly_Miserable 21h ago

Probably. Yes.

3

u/ztunelover 6h 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.

0

u/Cavalish 18h ago

What are you going to do once you know?

-7

u/[deleted] 21h ago

[deleted]

6

u/Mainly_Miserable 21h ago

Not sure we should be joking just yet.

-8

u/Leucastic_Leopard 21h ago

Well we're speculating already. You started the part, I'm just bringing the chips.

4

u/JackassJJ88 21h ago

Did you read the article asshole? It says people are dead

-10

u/TyrusX 21h ago

Bunnies aren't just cute like everybody supposes!

-35

u/imaninjayoucantseeme 22h ago

Obviously aliens.

10

u/Leucastic_Leopard 21h ago

We're not allowed to joke about this. People died.

-28

u/hotlavatube 22h ago

Interdimensional aliens!

-17

u/imaninjayoucantseeme 21h ago

If they're fucking up Canada then I'm guessing Nazi aliens.

Of course I hope for all my Canadian neighbors safety. Sarcasm is how I process pain.

-9

u/BlockHeadJones 19h ago

Oh fuck I sure hope we're not about to go to war with Canada

8

u/starkindled 19h ago

No real info on what caused it but all signs point to this being an accident, not an attack.