Fifth Canadian soldier dies of injuries from Alberta military training fire

A fifth Canadian soldier has died of injuries from a wind-driven grass fire that swept through troops during a training exercise last month, the Canadian Armed Forces said Saturday. Pvt. William Douglas Dal Bianco died Friday at a hospital in Ontario, and 24 soldiers remain hospitalized.

Dal Bianco had been treated since the Oct. 17 fire at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright in Alberta, southeast of Edmonton. About 84 soldiers from the 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, were conducting attack training when winds pushed flames toward them on a grenade launcher range, officials said. The other dead are Pvt. Shaun Farrell, 23, Pvt. Aidan Goulding, 23, Pvt. Hayden Lykkemark, 19, and Sgt. Morgan Wong, 26. Military police are investigating the fire, and a separate military board of inquiry will examine the circumstances and recommend steps to prevent similar incidents. Prime Minister Mark Carney said in a social media post that the soldiers “were training to defend Canada.”

Left-leaning coverage, represented here by CBS News, gives the fullest account. It leads with the fifth death, then adds Carney's tribute, the hometowns and ages of the four earlier victims, the number still hospitalized, and the two inquiries. It also includes Maj. Gen. Wade Rutland's remark that officials knew of the fire for hours. The excerpt cuts off before the rest of his statement. Alternative and independent outlets, BBC News and AP, report the same core facts in shorter form: the death on Friday, the month-old fire and the Wainwright base. Their available excerpts do not show the inquiry details or the prime minister's words. Right-leaning outlets had not reported this story at the time of writing, while left-leaning and alternative outlets had. Those covering it focus on the death toll and the military's investigation.