High winds propelled the fire through the Wainwright Army base, killing four soldiers and injuring dozens more.
Published on October 23, 2026
A fire that killed four soldiers at a military base in western Canada was started by an exercise using live grenades, a military official said.
The deadly fire broke out Saturday at a grenade launcher range during military exercises, with strong winds propelling it across the base, Brigadier-General Vanessa Hanrahan, commander of the Canadian Forces Military Police Group, told reporters Thursday.
“A subsequent change in wind direction and speed significantly increased the intensity of the fire,” she added, with the flames spreading to a training area at the Wainwright military base in Alberta.
Because the fire was in the “permanent danger zone” of the shooting range, firefighters were unable to fight it directly, Hanrahan added.
The fire broke out Saturday afternoon during high-intensity combat training involving Charlie Company of the 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry.
The military base sits in the Prairies, a landscape of vast open grasslands, rolling plains, and scattered groves of trees.
About 84 soldiers were split between a grenade range and an area where they practiced attacking simulated enemy positions. The fire spread to the second training area.
Four soldiers died and 39 were injured, 27 of whom required hospitalization. This incident constitutes one of the worst peacetime tragedies for the Canadian army.
Soldiers and reservists were participating in exercises ahead of a planned deployment to Latvia, where Canadian forces are conducting their largest international military operation.
Wainwright Base is one of the largest bases operated by the Canadian Armed Forces. It regularly hosts training exercises involving military personnel from NATO countries.
During the final months of World War II and for several months in 1946, the base was used as an internment center for German prisoners of war.
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