EDMONTON (The Thursday Times) — A fifth Canadian soldier has died of injuries from a wind-driven grass fire that swept through troops during a live-fire training exercise at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright in Alberta last month, the Canadian Armed Forces said on Saturday.
Private William Douglas Dal Bianco, of the 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, died on Friday in hospital in Ontario, where he had been treated since the October 17 fire, the military said.
“We are heartbroken by the loss of Private William Douglas Dal Bianco,” said General Jennie Carignan, the chief of the defence staff. She pledged to honour his service and to support everyone affected by the fire.
Prime Minister Mark Carney said the soldiers had been training to defend Canada. “With their bright futures still before them, they chose to safeguard ours. That is service,” he wrote on social media.
Of the 38 soldiers injured, 24 remain in hospital and 14 have been released, according to the military. Earlier this month it moved four of those still in hospital to facilities closer to their families in British Columbia and Ontario.
A fire on a grenade range
About 84 soldiers from the Edmonton-based battalion were taking part in a live-fire exercise when strong winds drove a grass fire into their position, officials have said. The four soldiers killed on the day were Sergeant Morgan Wong, 26, of Edmonton, and Privates Shaun Farrell, 23, Aidan Goulding, 23, and Hayden Lykkemark, 19.
The Canadian Forces provost marshal has said the fire was reported on an automatic grenade-launcher range during routine training. It was burning inside a designated range danger area, which limited direct firefighting, and was monitored through the day until a change in the wind’s direction and speed made it spread.
Major General Wade Rutland, who commands the 1st Canadian Division, told reporters last month that officers knew about the fire for hours but did not at first consider it a threat. “Canadians and families are rightly asking how that assessment was reached, what information it was based on, and whether different decisions should have been made,” he said.
Military police are investigating whether any criminal or service offences were committed, and a separate board of inquiry is examining the circumstances and will recommend ways to prevent a repeat. Saturday’s statement gave no findings from either inquiry and no new detail on what started the fire.
Carney has called it one of the worst peacetime tragedies for Canada’s military on home soil, and has promised answers “as expeditiously and transparently as necessary”.
