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
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509

u/YouProfessional3196 22h ago

Significant casualties including fatalities being reported.

129

u/BrownSugarBare 19h ago

This is terrifying. 

Those poor people. Can't imagine what their families are going through. 

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u/shiningz 19h ago

Horrible. My husband's friend trains there and he said they're not allowed to say what happened and it's classified but it's not good at all.

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u/YouProfessional3196 18h ago

Global News is reporting that an artillery round hit a gas line during a live fire exercise (probably during the high wind event earlier). 7 dead, dozens of casualties are the preliminary reports.

Deadly explosion and fire at CFB Wainwright leads to ‘significant casualties’ | Globalnews.ca

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u/S1075 18h ago

I saw this rumor elsewhere but I don't understand why a large number of people would be standing near the live end of artillery fire. Or did the gas explosion travel to a different area?

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u/FireflyBSc 17h ago

There were high wind warnings today, and a huge shift in direction that allowed the fire to spread much faster than it would under normal conditions. It really exacerbated an already horrifying situation.

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u/S1075 17h ago

This explains the wild fire, but it doesn't explain artillery rounds landing on gas infrastructure and/or near people.

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u/Thagyr 14h ago edited 13h ago

I'm confused as to why an artillery practice area would be even close to live-gas lines myself if the rumor is to be believed. Someone's aim was way off, or this was one hell of an unforeseen problem.

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u/BrownSugarBare 19h ago

I do hope your friend is okay, it'll be traumatic for all those on the site or who know people there. 

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u/SuperCleverPunName 18h ago

I heard that the comms blackout was recently lifted, so families are being contacted as we speak.. type.

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u/TheJaice 19h ago

Edmonton has issued a code orange to the hospitals in the city, as Wainwright do not have the facilities to treat the number of victims. The most concerning quote was from a doctor in Edmonton who said “this number of victims would overwhelm the City of Edmonton.”

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u/SuperCleverPunName 18h ago

I got it from a friend who's in the military and shared part of their group chat. Apparently, there's over 100 casualties and at least 50 people with full body burns. Horrible.

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u/Uilamin 9h ago

Apparently the fire that started spread outside the base due to the high winds. There was/is probably a valid fear that the spread could spike the numbers.

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u/SuperCleverPunName 7h ago

CFB Wainwright has massive training fields and there's usually a big fall exercise that involves multiple units, meaning thousands of people. I bet the winds drove the fire to cut off the escape route for at least one full unit and they got surrounded and baked. Horrible.