Grenade train sparked lethal hearth at Canada navy base, military says | Military Information

High winds propelled the blaze throughout the military base in Wainwright, killing 4 troopers and injuring dozens extra.

A fireplace that killed four soldiers at a western Canadian navy base was sparked by an train utilizing stay grenades, a navy official mentioned.

The lethal hearth broke out on a grenade launcher vary throughout navy workouts on Saturday, with excessive winds propelling it throughout the bottom, Brigadier-General Vanessa Hanrahan, commander of the Canadian Forces Military Police Group, advised reporters on Thursday.

“A subsequent change in wind path and velocity considerably elevated the hearth’s depth,” she added, with the flames spreading to a coaching space on the Wainwright navy base in Alberta.

Due to the blaze being within the “everlasting hazard space” of the vary, firefighters have been unable to immediately fight it, Hanrahan added.

The fire spread on Saturday afternoon throughout high-intensity fight coaching involving Charlie Company of the third Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry.

The navy base lies within the prairies, a panorama of vast, open grasslands, rolling plains and scattered groves of timber.

About 84 troopers have been break up between a grenade vary and an space the place they practised assaults on simulated enemy positions. The hearth swept into the second coaching space.

Four troopers died and 39 have been injured, with 27 requiring hospitalisation. The incident was one of many worst peacetime tragedies for Canada’s navy.

The troopers and reserve members have been collaborating in workouts forward of a deliberate deployment to Latvia, the place Canadian forces have their largest transnational navy operation.

The Wainwright base is without doubt one of the largest bases operated by the Canadian Armed Forces. It commonly hosts coaching workouts involving navy personnel from NATO nations.

During the ultimate months of World War II and for a number of months in 1946, the bottom was used as an internment centre for German prisoners of struggle.