Grenade exercise sparked deadly fire at Canada military base, army says

A live-grenade exercise sparked the fire that killed four soldiers at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright in Alberta, Brigadier-General Vanessa Hanrahan said. High winds, followed by a change in direction and speed, intensified the flames, which spread from a grenade range into a training area where soldiers were practising attacks on simulated enemy positions. Firefighters could not directly tackle the blaze because it was inside the range’s permanent danger area. Thirty-nine people were injured, 27 of whom were hospitalised; the troops were training ahead of a planned deployment to Latvia.