‘Perfect storm’: Extreme weather fuelled Wainwright military base fire, expert says
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A wildfire expert says powerful winds with shifting directions and dry weather contributed to rapid expansion of the fire at a military base in Wainwright, Alta., that left four soldiers dead and 39 others wounded.
Environment and Climate Change Canada had issued a severe weather alert for swaths of Alberta on Saturday, warning of powerful wind gusts of up to 90 kilometres per hour in the region where the base is located, 200 kilometres southeast of Edmonton.
The agency said a strong cold front also passed through the area at the time of the windstorm.
Jen Beverly, an associate professor of wildland fire at the University of Alberta, says that weather combination created a “perfect storm” for the deadly fire to spread at a staggering speed and engulf the military training ground.
