Top commander says 'no immediate changes' for CFB Wainwright after deadly fire

Thank you very much for joining us on this Sunday. Rosie's away today. There is more information about the deadly fire on CFB Wayne right now coming to light. Officials say that fire started on the base's grenade launcher range, an area firefighters could not safely enter even if training had stopped. Strong winds suddenly pushed that fire, overwhelming soldiers on a neighbouring range and taking the lives of four service members. Twenty-seven soldiers still remain in hospital, 13 in critical condition, and now three separate investigations are underway to understand what happened and why. What I will tell you is we will not shy away from answers, whatever hard truths they may reveal. Our business is serious and our will to confront hard realities and take accountability must be steadfast. While she was in Alberta, I spoke with the Chief of the Defence Staff, General Jenny Carignan. General Carignan, hello. Hello David, thank you for having me. Very glad to have you here. We learned some more details this week about the fire that began at the automatic grenade range and then driven by those very high winds, pushed into another range. A question that I think many have is why were the soldiers on that range unable to get away from the fire? Were they inside something? Did they have vehicles? What was the barrier to their escape? So I think this is mostly due to how fast the fire traveled. So I think now that the investigation is working at reconstructing the scene and what happened at different moments is going to reveal how it all happened. So this is what's going to help us, in fact, potentially modify some of our current range safety orders. But again, we need to have the investigation reconstruct the scene for us to have a better sense for what really happened. So some of those range safety orders actually say that at this time of year, when there is a fire risk, that live munitions should be used only in the earlier morning hours to avoid the possibility of a fire. This was happening in the late afternoon. Do you have a sense about why that was done? The commander does have discretion, but why was it done in the afternoon? So once again, these are guidelines and depending on many, many factors, the commanders on the ground address or consider a variety of factors when they are putting the training together. So this is another question that the investigation is going to reveal, what factors were considered, what mitigation measures were put in place, because they go hand in hand. So, and again, we need more clarity on all of that in order to make a determination. Troops are back in training at Wainwright as we speak, General. Is there anything that has changed or will change in their training? As a result of what has happened, is there anything that has been learned that, at least for now, commanders are saying, let's just change this for the moment? So, for the moment, we have nothing that indicates that we need to make immediate changes. As the investigations proceed, however, should there be indications that we need to make changes, we will immediately action those. But so far, nothing indicates that we need to modify our procedures. These are troops who are bound for Latvia. They are going into the danger zone and therefore need to be prepared for that. Is there pressure for commanders to get this training done within a set amount of time? Might that be a factor in the investigation? So a lot of things are going to be considered as the investigation goes forward. But what I can tell you is that there is long lead times for those training to happen. And this is not improvised. This is done over the course of a long period of time with flexible opportunities as well to rearrange or reschedule, depending on weather, depending on a lot of factors that can influence those training exercises to take place. So between now and next spring, there's a considerable amount of time ahead so that, again, the leadership has flexibility in the scheduling of the training. That fire had been burning at the automatic grenade range, as is quite common when live munitions are being used. And the fire department on the base was aware of it. When they responded to the injuries, to the fire that had quickly moved, were they coming from the fire hall? Or were they already on scene? So then again, that needs to be reconstructed as part of the investigation. But of course, our personnel on the ground did manage the casualty evacuations as the firefighters were dealing with the fire itself. But again, more clarity will come with the investigation. You speak about the injured. Many of them are in critical condition, as you and I speak, with burns to 30% to 80% of their body, we are told. I wonder if you've had the chance to meet with any of the injured or with their families in a hospital setting. Yes, I had the chance to visit the hospital and meet with some of the family members. Of course, as you can imagine, these are difficult times, both for the families, but also for all of our CAF members who were involved in the incident or the greater military family and community across Canada as well. So, I mean, everybody is hard at work in supporting families through this very difficult journey. There were a lot of theories in the opening days of this everything from natural gas which the military says there was no involvement of the natural gas infrastructure on the base there was talk about stockpiles of weapons perhaps blowing up about rocket propelled grenades or other anti-tank weapons dolphining bouncing off the ground. The fact that there is a lot of this other information floating around out there what does what does that mean for those families for yourself? I think what we want to make sure that the families are, we want to make sure the families are informed by the facts and the right information. So each family is associated with with a military member who supports them through their journey. So a lot of information can be passed by those attachés who support the families. And we want to make sure that the families are provided with the correct information. Is that because you worry about misinformation? I do worry about misinformation, and we want to make sure that those concerned, affected within the Canadian Armed Forces, but also the families, are provided with the correct information, which is why we want to make sure that the investigation clarifies that. And we're also setting up a board of inquiry, which will also look at the facts surrounding the incident. And we will make sure that the families are provided with the findings before we render them public. General Carignan, I do want to lastly ask you about a memorial. I think back to 2002, their friendly fire incident, actually involving this very same incident, the same units of the PPCLI. In the aftermath of that, there was a huge outpouring. There was a public memorial, a large one. Many thousands of people showed up. Does the Canadian Armed Forces envision doing something like that for this incident? So, like, out of respect for the families, this is something that we will work with the families. and more to follow on how we will go forward with the potential memorial. All right. General Jenny Carignan, thank you very much for your time. Thank you very much, David.