Edmonton Journal has reported:

Wainwright was quiet Sunday morning, less than a day after an explosion and fire at nearby CFB Wainwright killed four people and injured dozens. Businesses along Main Street were closed, few vehicles passed through town and the parking lot at Wainwright High School was empty. The hospital, which had been crowded with wounded people the previous evening, had returned to a quieter pace.

Some long-term care residents sat in wheelchairs outside Wainwright Health Centre in the autumn sunlight. Smoke could be smelled in the air, but it came from someone burning a pile of leaves in a backyard. The calm contrasted with the scene only hours earlier, when the school parking lot served as a staging area for injured soldiers brought into town.

Witnesses said many of the wounded were later taken to hospitals in Edmonton, Calgary and Saskatchewan. Residents told the Edmonton Journal at the local Legion branch that they are accustomed to hearing loud sounds from the base, where live-fire exercises can rattle windows and frighten dogs. In a town accustomed to military activity, those sounds were part of daily life.

On Saturday, residents began to suspect something was wrong when the sounds from the base stopped at about 4 p.m. The unusual quiet was followed by the smell of smoke and a stream of ambulances arriving in town. The silence continued into Sunday, while residents recalled the emergency response and the injured people they had seen.

Brandon Simmons, who has lived in the continuing care unit at Wainwright Health Centre for a year and a half, watched patients being rushed into the emergency department. He went outside and noticed a smell he described as chemical before vehicles carrying wounded people started arriving.

“So, initially there were five people that first came, there was a military pickup truck that came up to my left side, and I suddenly heard the the guys, the door opens, and there was screaming,” Simmons said. “And I looked over to my side, and there was a guy that was trying to run in. His pants were completely blown off.”

Simmons said he saw people with burns and severe injuries. The Edmonton Journal said it would not describe the extent of those injuries out of respect for victims and their families.

He also saw a military medical bus at the high school parking lot, where wounded people were assessed. “They had a military medical bus that was over in the school parking lot yesterday,” Simmons said. “I’ve never seen anything like that in my life. I didn’t even know we had such a thing. And then they started to bring everyone out, assess the wounded. No one was prepared for that. The only people they should have to deal with are people that are fighting for our country. As far as we know, this was a training exercise with some extreme conditions.”

Simmons said the hospital quickly faced pressure on its beds and supplies as patients arrived. “When all these patients first started coming in, they were overwhelmed immediately. The beds were overwhelmed, they didn’t have enough supplies… I think that something should be done to be able to have supplies, have personnel. Because if it happens once, it could possibly happen again.”

He said there has been a campaign for more than a decade to upgrade Wainwright Health Centre. One argument for improvements has been the hospital’s location near a military base that regularly has more than 1,000 people on site.

“This hospital is so old, you know,” Simmons said. “There’s so many things about it that are falling apart. Not only do we not have the personnel for such an event like this, a major catastrophe, we do not have the supplies, and we also do not have the beds. Up in the top area, they were kicking people out from there who didn’t need to be here.”

Eric Priche, who also lives in continuing care, said the influx had exceeded the hospital’s capacity. “It was a big event,” he said. “It was, like, too much for the hospital. They definitely need more more supplies, more nursing staff, more everything.”

Hailey Jones, president of the Armor of Light Recovery society, said the organization mobilized with volunteers after learning about the incident. The society provides support to military personnel and their families, and its volunteers went to the scene on Saturday to assist affected people.

“Yesterday was a shock to all of us,” Jones said. “When we learned about what had occurred, our initial response was just to provide support in whatever ways we possibly could to our military families, community members and anybody who had been affected.”

The volunteers first brought coffee and baked goods to the hospital for doctors, nurses and families waiting there. Jones said some people in the waiting area were receiving tragic news or waiting for information about loved ones.

The fire spread beyond the base into the surrounding county, prompting the evacuation of some farms. Armor of Light posted on social media that it had cots available at its office for people displaced by the fire who needed a place to sleep.

Jones said the emergency response included at least 20 ambulances and an EMS bus outside the high school, along with ambulances in the hospital and school parking lots. “It was definitely a mass casualty incident, and you know our thoughts are with everyone who’s been affected,” she said.

The society’s next focus was helping families reach injured soldiers receiving care in other cities. Jones said it had begun receiving donations from community members and was co-ordinating transportation for families whose loved ones had been taken to Edmonton and farther away. The assistance would help them visit injured relatives or travel for medical appointments, she said, while the society worked with organizations and community members to address gaps in services.

Other local groups and businesses also offered help. The Wainwright District Community Health Foundation brought food and water to the hospital. A consignment store offered clothing to evacuees and families, and a day care centre opened its doors to people needing somewhere to stay.

Simmons said he had received messages from people around the world after the incident. “I’ve got people reaching out to me from halfway across the world,” he said. “I can’t even understand the language, but I know they’re sending their condolences and stuff, right? It’s a once in a lifetime event.”