Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says 27 of the 39 soldiers taken to hospital after a deadly fire at the Wainwright military base on Saturday are still being treated, with 13 in critical condition.
The number of hospitalized is down from 33 on Tuesday.
Three of the soldiers are from Ontario and in “dire health conditions,” and the eastern province is sending 19 burn nurses and five operating room nurses to assist Alberta medics, Smith added.
“This will help with a couple of things, I understand, (like) changing the dressing of some of the soldiers who are severely burned,” she told reporters at an unrelated press conference on Wednesday.
“Some of the burns are 30 per cent to 80 per cent of their entire body. Sometimes the changing of those dressings can take up to two hours per patient.”
On Sunday, the Canadian Armed Forces said four people were killed in a fire that began at Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Wainwright the day prior. At the time, 39 people were injured, 19 of them critically.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford confirmed in an X post that, including both surgeons and nurses, 27 health-care workers were being deployed to help the injured.
“In times of crisis, Canadians pull together and have each others’ backs,” he said. “That’s exactly what we’re doing.”
