What we know about the disaster at CFB Wainwright

CBC News has independently confirmed that there were at least seven fatalities in the incident that occurred in Wainwright. There are also many injured, but we don't have numbers on that yet. Canadian Armed Forces right now is looking after their own, if you will, and trying to confirm some of this, as well as the identities of those. Notify family. Canadian Armed Forces is where all this confirmation will come from before anyone speaks more about it. But CBC News confirming seven dead in that terrible incident that happened yesterday evening in Alberta. David Commons, the host of CBC Morning Live, and he joins us now because David's actually been there before. From what you've been hearing about how this unfolded, David, and, you know, where we are, what can you tell us about what may have happened or what we know about what happened, I guess? Rosie, lots to talk about, but I do want to contextualize the moment now that we know seven fatalities have occurred, at least seven. I believe this would be the single deadliest day, wartime or peacetime, for the Canadian Armed Forces in more than 50 years. I have to go back to 1974 when Syrian air defences shot down a Canadian military aircraft with nine people on board. Even during the worst of Afghanistan, the worst day there in 2007, six people killed in a single incident. to lose seven in a training exercise that appears to have a significant number of injured as well is a very major incident in the totality of the Canadian Armed Forces, in the history of that organization, a small organization where people take risks, they understand those risks, and this is a terrible reminder of what has now transpired in the last 24 hours, a terrible reminder of those risks. let's just talk about CFB Wainwright itself. There is the town, about 7,000 people. Many people live or work, you know, live in that community who work on the base. But those who are at the base are predominantly from elsewhere. So they come to that rural Alberta base to train. It is a vast space, the biggest training facility on the ground for maneuver warfare in the Canadian military they have sea cans and cinder block areas you see here in this archival video this is not over the weekend but gives you an idea of the kind of urban warfare they they drill for there there's also vast open areas that are used for artillery or anti-tank drills trying to practice what happens in this case you see what happens if someone is injured and you can you can count that there would have been medical personnel at this training ground yesterday because there always are quite likely with an ambulance now from what we understand they likely would have been overwhelmed very quickly given the sheer size of what's transpired on this base they routinely use live ammunition why do they do that because the Canadian military trains as they fight they have to be prepared for the eventuality of war. And so they train under conditions that are similar to war. That is not to say that there aren't safety protocols. My colleague, Marie Brewster, speaking with you, Rosie, talking about safety officers, range safety officers, assistant range safety officers, that they do what they can to mitigate as much danger as is possible in what is a dangerous profession on a dangerous training ground. So it gives you a sense that, yes, there may well have been explosives big explosives in that area the key question i think remains what caused the fire was there just one fire was there an explosion did it set off something else these are all going to be key questions not just right now but for the board of inquiry that will certainly be convened to look into from the military side what transpired yeah and i really appreciate that that context obviously in terms of what this means for the Canadian Armed Forces to lose at least seven people in one accident. How would that investigation unfold? Because obviously there will be things to learn, even if it is a confluence of events that brought this about. Yeah, absolutely. So it's emergency management mode right now. They are working to get next of kin, both for injured and the dead, to Alberta to support them, to notify them, to get them supported as quickly as possible. But also parallel to this will be the investigation, and you can bet there will be a general somewhere in the Canadian Armed Forces organization who is not connected to Wainwright, who is not connected to the soldiers who are on the ground, who will be brought in to be a somewhat independent arbiter of what transpired. They will go to Wainwright. They will gather evidence. They will speak to those who were there. They will look for any video that might exist. They will try to figure out what happened. And if something went wrong, to figure out why it went wrong, if anybody is to blame for that, and what can be done going forward to ensure something like that doesn't happen again. I will repeat myself that this is an inherently dangerous occupation in an inherently dangerous training ground, but the Canadian Armed Forces does take many mitigation tactics at all of its ranges, including at Wainwright. I will also reiterate that this will be a very heavy day for not just those in uniform, but their family members. This is precisely the kind of danger that you fear that could claim your loved one's life. Okay. The CBC's David Common, thank you. Very valuable to have you here this morning. Appreciate it, David. Thank you.