Canada’s defense minister said Saturday that people were killed and injured in an incident at a military base in Alberta that caused a major fire. “I’m saddened to share that there have been both fatalities and injuries as a result of an incident on the base,” Defense Minister David McGuinty said. McGuinty did not provide casualty figures or details about what caused the incident at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright, the AP reports. He described the situation as “very, very active and delicate.” Doctors in Edmonton, about 120 miles west of the base, said hospitals were overwhelmed with patients.
- Dr. Warren Thirsk, an emergency department physician at Edmonton’s Royal Alexandra Hospital, tells the CBC that the “Code Orange” disaster protocol has been activated. He says healthcare facilities in Wainwright were “completely overwhelmed” and patients are being sent to hospitals across Edmonton. “This number of patients would overwhelm the city of Edmonton and that is why we are clearing our decks and mobilizing to respond as if it was our own city,” Thirsk says. “It is more patients than any of us want to count right now. It’s a disaster. It’s a one in every 15 to 25-year disaster.”
Source: www.newser.com
