Canada’s defense minister said Saturday that people were killed and injured in an incident at a military bas e in Alberta that caused a major fire, while reports said that large numbers of injured people were being transported to hospitals.
Fire crews scrambled late into the night as fierce winds whipped flames beyond Canadian Forces Base Wainwright and into the surrounding rural area. Saturday following reports of a fire in a training area at the base. There was no evacuation order for residents.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said officers were called shortly after 4 p.m. By 11 p.m., the Municipal District of Wainwright said on social media the fire was being held and that property and critical infrastructure were protected.
Defense Minister David McGuinty said the Royal Canadian Mounted Police were involved in investigating the incident and described the situation as “very, very active and delicate. He said authorities were still working to determine what happened and expected to provide further information. “I cannot recall such an incident in my short time for sure as a minister, but I cannot recall an incident like this in recent memory,” McGuinty said.
It’s a one in every 15- to 25-year disaster. “It is more patients than any of us want to count right now. It’s a disaster.
“This number of patients would overwhelm the city of Edmonton,” Dr. Warren Thirsk, an emergency department physician at the Royal Alexandra Hospital, told CBC News. He said Armed Forces members were at the scene and that RCMP were also involved. “This is an active and delicate situation and soon to be an active and delicate investigation.”
