Four soldiers die in CFB Wainwright training fire

Four Canadian Armed Forces members died and 39 were injured when a fast-moving fire swept through a live-fire training exercise at CFB Wainwright in Alberta on October 17, officials said. The fire spread toward an administrative area after strong, shifting winds accelerated its movement. Its cause remains under investigation. The military identified the dead as Sgt. Morgan Wong, Pte. Shaun Farrell, Pte. Aidan Goulding and Pte. Hayden Lykkemark. Wong, 26, was from Edmonton; Farrell was from Prince Albert, Saskatchewan; Goulding, 23, was from North Vancouver, British Columbia; and Lykkemark, 19, was from Langley, British Columbia. Maj.-Gen. Wade Rutland said 84 members of the 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, were training with live munitions when the fire ignited at about 4 p.m. local time. Most were throwing hand grenades on a range, while 10 soldiers were conducting a simulated attack, according to Rutland’s account. Rutland said the fire was initially about a kilometre from personnel. Unusually strong winds shifted direction and drove it rapidly toward the range administrative area. He said it moved roughly a kilometre in 30 to 60 seconds. The...