By: Malak Abas
Posted:
Premier Wab Kinew said Manitoba “stands ready to help in any way we can” and will lower its flags to half-mast after a large fire tore through a Canadian Forces Base in Wainwright, Alta. Saturday, resulting in four confirmed deaths and dozens of serious injuries.
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Premier Wab Kinew said Manitoba “stands ready to help in any way we can” and will lower its flags to half-mast after a large fire tore through a Canadian Forces Base in Wainwright, Alta. Saturday, resulting in four confirmed deaths and dozens of serious injuries.
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Premier Wab Kinew said Manitoba “stands ready to help in any way we can” and will lower its flags to half-mast after a large fire tore through a Canadian Forces Base in Wainwright, Alta. Saturday, resulting in four confirmed deaths and dozens of serious injuries.
“This is a terrible tragedy. My heart goes out to the families who have lost loved ones, those who were injured and everyone affected,” Kinew said in a statement Sunday.
“We know there are families waiting for news about their loved ones, and our thoughts are with them, too.”
JOHN ULAN / THE CANADIAN PRESS
A deadly fire swept through CFB Wainwright in Alberta on Saturday afternoon.
Kinew said he was in touch with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and federal Defence Minister David McGuinty to offer Manitoba’s assistance and share condolences.
“I also want to thank the first responders and everyone who stepped up to help during such a difficult time,” he said.
Alberta police say the fire broke out Saturday afternoon in a training area at the base, which is about 200 kilometres southeast of Edmonton.
The cause of the blaze has not been confirmed, but the Armed Forces have said there is no indication of terrorist activity.
Prime Minister Mark Carney confirmed the casualities in a short news conference Sunday and said next of kin had been notified for the four deceased.
He said soldiers training at the base are from the Princess Patricia Canadian Light Infantry, which includes approximately 2,000 soldiers from Edmonton and CFB Shilo east of Brandon.
“Throughout Canada’s history, the Princess Pats have fought for freedom, democracy, human dignity — in the First World War, in the second, in Korea, in Afghanistan, and during numerous peace-keeping missions over the decades,” Carney said.
PATRICK DOYLE / THE CANADIAN PRESS
Prime Minister Mark Carney arrives to deliver a statement on Parliament Hill following a deadly fire at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright in Alberta, in Ottawa on Sunday.
“That is the record, that is the standard, those are the values of the women and men who were training yesterday on the Alberta prairie when disaster struck. And that commitment, that service, those ideals, are the debts that we as Canadians owe to them.”
The Free Press has reached out to CFB Shilo.
— With files from the Canadian Press
malak.abas@winnipegfreepress.com
Malak Abas is a city reporter at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg’s North End, she led the campus paper at the University of Manitoba before joining the Free Press in 2020. Read more about Malak.
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