Carney vows "we will get the answers" as 50 investigators dig into the Wainwright fire

Prime Minister Mark Carney told the House of Commons on Monday that 50 investigators are examining the fire at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright that killed four soldiers and injured 39 others on Saturday, calling it one of Canada's worst peacetime military tragedies.

Speaking in Parliament in Ottawa, Carney said the Canadian Forces National Investigation Service was leading the investigation, with support from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Associated Press reported. Lawmakers observed a moment of silence before Carney addressed the Commons, and opposition party leaders also paid tribute.

The fire they knew about

The hardest question facing the government now is one the military's own account raised: officials knew about the grass fire for hours before it reached the troops.

Maj.-Gen. Wade Rutland, commander of 1st Canadian Division, told reporters Sunday that military officials believed the fire was contained and allowed live-fire training to continue before a sudden wind shift drove the flames toward the soldiers, the AP reported. About 84 soldiers from the battalion's Charlie Company were training at two locations — a grenade range and a simulated-attack area — when the fire swept into the second zone.

"A fire was burning in the training area. Driven by ferocious winds, the fire jumped nearly a kilometer in less than a minute to where soldiers were gathered," Carney said in the Commons. Rutland said the fire moved about a kilometre in 30 to 60 seconds — something he had never seen before. He said investigators had not determined what ignited the fire, and that there was no indication of terrorism.

"We will get the answers to what caused this terrible tragedy, as expeditiously and transparently as necessary," Carney later told reporters.

Training for Latvia

The soldiers of the 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, were preparing to serve as a rapid-response force for global crises and to reinforce Canadian troops in Latvia next spring as part of NATO's mission deterring Russia, Rutland said, according to the AP. Their war was supposed to be overseas.

The four soldiers killed were identified Sunday as Sgt. Morgan Wong of Edmonton — a reservist with the Loyal Edmonton Regiment training with the battalion — and Privates Shaun Farrell of Prince Albert, Sask., Aidan Goulding of North Vancouver and Hayden Lykkemark of Langley, B.C. Nineteen of the injured were in critical condition as of Sunday.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, whose riding includes Wainwright and who visited the town Sunday, said many of the injured suffered severe burns requiring weeks or months of intensive care, the AP reported.

A country in mourning

Flags at federal buildings were lowered to half-mast, and on Monday night the Samuel De Champlain Bridge in Montreal was lit purple from sunset to 8:30 p.m. in honour of those killed and affected, according to a federal government announcement.