'Information is limited', CAF officials give update on CFB Wainwright incident

Canadian Armed Forces officials have given an update about the incident that killed four and injured 39 soldiers during a live fire training exercise at CFB Wainwright last Saturday. The press conference included statements from the Chief of the Defence Staff, General Jennie Carignan, the commander of the 1st Canadian Division, Major-General Wade Rutland, and Canadian Forces Provost Marshal Brigadier-General Vanessa Hanrahan.Gen. Carignan began the press conference by offering her condolences to the soldiers affected by the incident as well as their families. Maj-Gen Rutland echoed this sentiment when it was his turn to speak.Rutland acknowledged that he needed to "correct" two instances of his previous statement about the incident. The first correction was that the soldiers who were injured were not conducting a "section attack," like previously stated, but were "setting up for a pairs range; this is where two soldiers attack a target, taking turns covering and firing for one another."The second correction was that the investigation will take longer than he had previously claimed."When asked how long the investigation would take, I said at least a month; this underestimated the scope of the upcoming board of inquiry, which will take as long as it takes to examine all facets of this situation," Rutland stated."Getting the facts right matters," he added.The previously stated story that a pre-existing "range fire" was blown onto soldiers by "uncommonly high winds" was restated, but with the caveat that the fire had begun as a result of "routine military training.".Brig-Gen. Hanrahan stated that she could confirm that the fire started "as a result of the ongoing training that was taking place on that range."She later clarified that the fire started on the "automatic grenade launcher range." When questioned about whether or not the fire was caused by munitions, Hanrahan defaulted to her previous statement, saying the investigation is still ongoing."Every other aspect of what happened, from the time that fire originated on that range until what we have today, dealing with the tragic accident that we had on a different range in that area is still under investigation."She added that "a subsequent change in wind direction and velocity significantly increased the fire's intensity and rate of speed across the area."Hanrahan also clarified, when asked by the media, that "there is no indication that there was an explosion of any kind that resulted in the fire that we're talking about today."She also confirmed that there was absolutely no natural gas or oil involvement in the incident after earlier reports had indicated that this kind of infrastructure may have been involved.Maj-Gen. Rutland confirmed that training at CFB Wainwright has already resumed following the incident.The investigation remains ongoing, and of the 39 soldiers transported to hospital, 27 remain there at the time of writing.

'Information is limited', CAF officials give update on CFB Wainwright incident

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