5th soldier dies from injuries in fire at CFB Wainwright last month

Sad news for you now in the wake of the tragic fire at CFB Wainwright last month. A fifth soldier has now died. The Canadian Armed Forces confirming Private William Douglas DelBianco of the 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, lost their life Friday as a result of injuries sustained during the fire. He was one of several soldiers receiving medical care in Ontario. This new death is in addition to the four other young men whose deaths were made public after the incident on October 17th. That's when members from PPCLI were conducting live fire training at CFB Wainwright as part of Exercise Apollo Shooter. During that training, a fire was ignited and high winds spread the flames quickly, overtaking the unit. In addition to the five soldiers who lost their lives, 38 CAF members were injured. 24 remain in hospitals across the country receiving treatment. Now the injured soldiers have burns affecting 30 to 80 percent of their bodies and for reference anything higher than 20 percent is considered life-threatening mostly due to infection. This new death is obviously difficult news for the country. The Prime Minister issuing a comment from overseas saying Private Del Bianco and his fellow soldiers were training to defend Canada with their bright futures still before them. They chose to safeguard ours. That is service. Now we serve them. Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre also releasing a statement saying he's heartbroken. This was the fifth soldier lost to this tragedy, he writes. He put on the uniform to serve Canada, and Canada will not forget him. He goes on to say he's praying for his family and the 24 soldiers still recovering. With this latest death, the Wainwright fire is the deadliest incident involving the CAF since 2020, when six personnel were killed in a fatal crash in the Mediterranean. Alicia Asquith, CBC News, Edmonton.