The United States has made Canada a formal offer of assistance for burned soldiers recovering from the Oct. 17 fire at CFB Wainwright, U.S. Ambassador Pete Hoekstra said Friday, almost a week after the training blaze killed four soldiers and injured 39 others.
A formal offer of assistance for burned soldiers
In a social media post on Friday, Hoekstra said the U.S. government has made a formal offer of assistance and resources to Canada’s federal government, meant to help support the recovery of soldiers affected by traumatic burns “should it be deemed necessary.”
The offer concerns the soldiers wounded on Saturday, Oct. 17, when a fire that began during training on the automatic grenade launcher range at CFB Wainwright, about 200 kilometres southeast of Edmonton, was picked up by fierce winds. The military has said the flames took less than a minute to race about a kilometre into the area where a different training exercise was under way. Four soldiers were killed and 39 were injured, many of them burned.
Poilievre thanks the ambassador and passes the offer along
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, whose riding of Battle River-Crowfoot includes the base, thanked Hoekstra for reaching out to him.
“We deeply appreciate this gesture of support for our injured soldiers and their families at such a difficult time,” Poilievre wrote in a social media post on Friday.
Poilievre said his office has informed Defence Minister David McGuinty and the Alberta government of the offer, so the two governments can decide “whether these additional resources and expertise are needed.”
“The safety, security and recovery of the heroes injured at CFB Wainwright are our top priority,” he wrote. “Our prayers remain with our heroes and their families.”
No public response from the federal government to the American offer had been reported as of Friday.
Help is already arriving from Ontario
The Canadian Armed Forces said in its latest update that 27 members remain in hospital and 12 have been released. The Canadian Press reported on Friday that 13 of those still in hospital are in critical condition, many of them with severe burns.
Specialized help is already on the ground. About 28 civilian medical personnel with expertise in burn care were flown from Toronto to Edmonton aboard a CAF CC-130 Hercules aircraft, the military said, thanking Alberta’s health system, civilian first responders and the Province of Ontario for their support. CBC News reported earlier in the week that the Ontario team includes surgeons and nurses with burn-care expertise, sent as Alberta hospitals continue to treat the injured.
Three investigations, and no timeline for answers
The military has said three investigations into the tragedy are under way. The Military Police are investigating independently of the chain of command, to establish the facts and determine whether any criminal or service offences occurred, and a separate Board of Inquiry will be convened. The military could not say when more answers will be available about how the fire started and spread.
The battalion at the centre of the tragedy, the 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, will continue to train for future operations while support services assist the injured, their families and the rest of the unit, the Armed Forces said.
An offer that lands in a tense week
The ambassador’s offer arrived at the end of a week in which Hoekstra was also at the centre of a public dispute with Ottawa. In a podcast interview reported on Oct. 14, he accused Canadian politicians of interfering in the upcoming U.S. midterm elections, and the U.S. Embassy later issued a fact sheet listing its concerns. Ottawa instructed its diplomats in the United States to avoid meeting midterm candidates, and on Friday, speaking in Istanbul, Prime Minister Mark Carney said there was “no merit” to the interference claims.
Against that backdrop, Friday’s exchange over burn care ran through the practical channels of the relationship: an ambassador’s public offer, passed by the local MP to the defence minister and the provincial government that runs the hospitals. Whether Canada takes Washington up on it is now a decision for Ottawa and Alberta.
