Devastating Fire in Alberta

On a remote base in Alberta littered with gas well-heads just before the referendum on whether Alberta should have a referendum on leaving Canada.

How odd:

The major fire that claimed four lives and injured dozens more at CFB Wainwright on Oct. 17 began as a grass fire that was considered far enough away not to pose immediate danger, but strong winds suddenly swept it toward military members training at the base, the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) say.

“During the conduct of a training, a grass fire ignited in the training area. The cause of this fire is under active investigation,” Maj.-Gen Wade Rutland said at a press conference in Edmonton on Oct. 18.

“Uncommonly strong winds caused the fire to spread rapidly and shift direction towards the range administrative area. The fire did originate within the training area, and did cross established fire guards before being contained, in conjunction with municipal authorities.”

Rutland said the CAF doesn’t believe the incident is the result of any oil and gas infrastructure explosions, “nor any outside interference.”

He said as part of its safety protocols, the military relies on weather reports before deciding if a certain operation should proceed. On the day of the incident, winds were initially within acceptable range, “well below 50 kilometres” per hour, he said. What happened later that day, however, was “uncommon,” as winds picked up speed at rates he hadn’t seen before, Rutland said.

“The fire was a kilometre away when the wind shifted. It is not normal for a fire to move a kilometre in 30 to 60 seconds,” he said. “I certainly hadn’t seen anything like it.”

(Sidebar: says the country that is constantly riddled with fast-moving forest fires.)

**

Maj.-Gen. L.W. Rutland, Commander of the 1st Canadian Division battalion, told reporters soldiers were undergoing a preparatory training activity at the CFB Wainwright when a grass fire broke out at 4 p.m. on Saturday. Rutland said the fire began a kilometre away when the wind shifted.

“I spoke to my commander on the ground last night and this morning and he said within 30 seconds to a minute they saw no fire, and then there was a fire right on top of them,” Rutland said. ...

Rutland said the activity was “high-intensity combat training” with live munitions. He said soldiers were split between throwing hand grenades on a hand grenade range and conducting a “section attack” where 10 soldiers attack a simulated enemy.

The fire moved quickly and struck what is called the administration area of the section attack range — the grenade range was not affected.

The size of the fire has not been determined, but Rutland said range control was aware there was a fire for several hours and were monitoring it. 

Rutland said soldiers train for all types of conditions and if protocols needs to change following the ongoing investigation they will. He would not comment on whether not the incident was preventable.

I'll wager it was.