Grenade exercise sparked deadly fire at Canada military base, army says
A live-grenade training exercise sparked a deadly fire at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright in Alberta, killing four soldiers and injuring dozens more, the army says.
Four Canadian soldiers have died and dozens more were injured after a fire sparked by a live-grenade training exercise tore across a military base in western Canada, the army says.
The blaze broke out on Saturday afternoon on a grenade launcher range at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright in Alberta, during high-intensity combat training involving Charlie Company of the 3rd Battalion. About 84 soldiers were taking part in the exercises, which were being held ahead of a planned deployment.
According to a military official, the fire was ignited by an exercise using live grenades and was then propelled across the base by high winds. "A subsequent change in wind direction and velocity significantly increased the fire's intensity," the official said.
Because the blaze was burning inside the range's "permanent danger area", firefighters were unable to tackle it directly, allowing it to spread through the dry prairie grassland around the base.
Four soldiers were killed in the fire. A further 39 were injured, with 27 of them requiring hospitalisation.
Wainwright is one of the largest bases operated by the Canadian Armed Forces and regularly hosts large-scale training exercises. Both regular soldiers and reserve members were taking part in the weekend's exercises.
Source: Al Jazeera English — TrendWire reports stories in its own words; facts should be confirmed against the original source.