Four soldiers are dead, and 39 people are in hospital after a fast-moving fire swept through CFB Wainwright during a military training exercise Saturday.
asserted
fire → move → exercise
At least 19 of the injured are in critical condition, and some are being treated for severe burns, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said Sunday.
Maj.-Gen. Wade Rutland said the fire had been burning at a distance from the training area and was considered contained before powerful winds suddenly drove the flames about a kilometre in roughly 30 to 60 seconds, overwhelming soldiers.
asserted
winds → injure → soldiers
The cause remains under investigation.
asserted
cause → remain → investigation
Most recently in October 2020, Cpl. James Choi, 29, of the Royal Westminster Regiment was taking part in a live-fire infantry exercise when he suffered a gunshot wound.
asserted
he → take → wound
He was treated at Wainwright before being flown to Edmonton, where he died the following morning.
asserted
he → treat → Edmonton
Three years earlier, Sgt. Robert Dynerowicz of the Royal Canadian Dragoons was killed in a vehicle accident during Exercise Rugged Bear.
asserted
Dynerowicz → kill → Bear
About 3,000 soldiers were taking part in the month-long exercise, which included live-fire training with infantry, tanks and armoured vehicles as soldiers prepared for possible overseas deployments.
asserted
soldiers → take → deployments
Three other soldiers were injured in the April 25, 2017 crash.
asserted
soldiers → injure → crash
Another large training exercise had Lt.-Col. Dan Bobbitt killed at Wainwright in May 2014.
uncertain
Bobbitt → have → May
Bobbitt, the commanding officer of the 2nd Regiment, Royal Canadian Horse Artillery, was inside a large eight-wheeled armoured vehicle when the vehicle rolled over in the training area.
asserted
vehicle → command → area
Four other soldiers were injured, including two who were flown to Edmonton hospitals.
asserted
who → injure → hospitals
About 5,000 Canadian, American and British troops were participating in Exercise Maple Resolve that year, making it the Canadian Army’s largest exercise of 2014.
asserted
it → participate → 2014
The training was designed to prepare units for possible deployments by putting them through realistic combat scenarios.
asserted
training → design → scenarios
Some of Canada’s deadliest peacetime military training disasters happened decades earlier.
asserted
Some → happen → disasters
On May 8, 1968, 26 paratroopers took off for a training jump at Camp Petawawa, Ont.
uncertain
paratroopers → take → Petawawa
An unexpected wind shear pushed 22 of them away from the landing zone and into the Ottawa River, about 300 metres offshore.
asserted
shear → push → River
Weighted down by equipment and tangled in their parachutes, seven soldiers drowned.
asserted
soldiers → weight → parachutes
Veterans Affairs describes it as Canada’s worst peacetime military training accident.
asserted
Affairs → describe → accident
At CFB Valcartier, Que., six cadets were killed and 65 people injured in 1974 after a live grenade was accidentally mixed with dummy grenades during a safety lesson.
asserted
grenade → kill → lesson
An instructor told a cadet it was safe to pull the pin; the grenade exploded seconds later.
asserted
grenade → tell → pin
A coroner later blamed negligence, and some survivors were left with permanent injuries.
asserted
survivors → blame → injuries
In 1988, six military engineering students were killed at CFB Chilliwack, B.C., when about 27 kilograms of explosives detonated while they practised creating craters meant to block enemy vehicles.
asserted
they → kill → vehicles
Investigators concluded heat and friction likely triggered the blast, leading to major changes in demolition training and equipment
asserted
heat → conclude → training
The Aporia
