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2026-10-24 Great White North

Deadly fire at Canada military base was caused by live grenade exercise, army says

[NY Post] A fast-moving grass fire that killed at least four soldiers at a western Canadian ‌military base on Saturday was sparked by an exercise using live grenades, a senior defense official said on Thursday.

High winds ⁠then propelled the blaze across the army base in Wainwright, overwhelming dozens of soldiers. The incident was one of the worst peacetime tragedies for Canada’s military.

"The fire initiated on the automatic grenade launcher range... [it] ‌initiated ⁠as a result of routine military training that was happening on that range at the time," Brigadier-General ⁠Vanessa Hanrahan told reporters.

Officials said 27 people remain hospitalized, several in critical condition. ⁠

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Posted by Frank G 2026-10-24 00:00|| E-Mail|| Front Page|| [129 views ] Top

1 Four dead and 27 injured. From a grass fire. Is there something missing from this story?

Posted by SteveS 2026-10-24 01:11|| 2026-10-24 01:11|| Front Page Top

2 Yeah that is nothing like what I've read about speculation of a missile porpoising after launch (into a MOUT exercise)

Posted by Dopey Photch2701 2026-10-24 05:40|| 2026-10-24 05:40|| Front Page Top

3 Four dead and 27 injured. From a grass fire. Is there something missing from this story?

DEI?

Posted by Grom the Reflective 2026-10-24 07:09|| 2026-10-24 07:09|| Front Page Top

4 "Porpoising" in an aircraft, humorous to watch from the ramp. Not so funny as a passenger.

Posted by Besoeker 2026-10-24 07:13|| 2026-10-24 07:13|| Front Page Top

5 Well Steve, the problem was when the grass fire got into the ammo dump.

Posted by ed in texas 2026-10-24 08:39|| 2026-10-24 08:39|| Front Page Top

6 What were the lessons learned from the exercise?

Posted by Super Hose 2026-10-24 09:00|| 2026-10-24 09:00|| Front Page Top

7 The officer in charge and the range masters deserve to be court martialed. Live fire never should have been allowed if the grass was that dry.

Posted by Chantry 2026-10-24 09:26|| 2026-10-24 09:26|| Front Page Top

8 So I hit the link to confirm what Venessa looks like, and got a lot of NY Post pictures of hand grenades.

I get the media people are dullards, but this seemed obtuse. And no picture of Venessa (who, by the way, does look like I thought).

There are laws in Kansas about wind speed and spraying herbicide; I'd imagine the same concerning explosives and hard lessons learned centuries ago.

Too many offs.

Posted by swksvolFF 2026-10-24 10:29|| 2026-10-24 10:29|| Front Page Top

9 Fires break out on Camp Pendleton on a fairly regular basis, especially when Santa Ana winds are blowing. I wouldn't know for sure what causes the fires but I might hazard a guess that the Marines can get a little rambunctious. I can't remember anybody ever getting killed. I remember years ago when a fire got pretty close to civilian homes in Fallbrook but that hardly ever happens. It's a pretty big base and the fires have a lot of room to burn before they get anywhere near the perimeter although that last big fire earlier this month closed Interstate 5 for a couple of days. I'm sure that was interesting for the people who got stuck in the traffic jam.

Posted by Abu Uluque 2026-10-24 13:51|| 2026-10-24 13:51|| Front Page Top

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