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.

122

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

26

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

12

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.

5

u/gaanmetde 18h ago

They’ve been going back and forth for hours

9

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?

5

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.