Pte. Aidan Goulding from North Vancouver was one of four soldiers killed when a fire tore through a training area at CFB Wainwright in Alberta on Saturday afternoon. The 23-year-old had only joined the Canadian Armed Forces earlier this year. He left a solid job as a mechanic because he wanted to serve his country. His family said he talked about making the most of the one life he had.
The fire started around 4 p.m. during a work-up exercise. Soldiers from the 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry were getting ready for a deployment to Latvia. High winds kicked up fast. Gusts hit hard and pushed the flames a full kilometre in under a minute. The fire hit the administrative area before anyone could get clear.
Pte. Shaun Farrell from Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Pte. Hayden Lykkemark from Langley, British Columbia, and Sgt. Morgan Wong from Edmonton also died that day. All four next of kin have been told. Major-General Wade Rutland spoke on Sunday and said the military’s thoughts stay with the families and with the injured still in care.
Thirty-nine other personnel ended up in hospital. At least 19 of them were listed in critical condition. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith confirmed those numbers. Hospitals had briefly gone to Code Orange but later lifted it once the patients were sorted across four facilities.
The cause is still under investigation. Officials said there is no sign of any outside attack. Weather warnings had been out for strong winds that day, with gusts forecast up to 90 kilometres per hour. Conditions stayed normal for most of the afternoon until the wind shifted without much warning.
Families of the injured sit in waiting rooms hoping for better news. Some of the burns are serious. Recovery will take time for many of them. Fellow soldiers who were there that day are dealing with what they saw.
The base is one of the busiest training spots in the country. The exercise was meant to get troops ready for real work overseas. Instead it left four empty seats and a lot of hospital beds. Support is flowing in for the families and the units involved.
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