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Ontario will send 28 health-care professionals to Alberta to help take care of soldiers severely injured after a deadly weekend fire at a military base in the Prairie province, Premier Doug Ford says.
Ford said Wednesday the workers will include surgeons and nurses with expertise in burn care. The province will also send equipment to support their work, he said.
“As Alberta hospitals continue to respond to the devastating fire that took place at CFB Wainwright last week, Ontario’s heroic health-care workers are stepping up to help,” Ford said in a post on the social media platform X.
“In times of crisis, Canadians pull together and have each others’ backs. That’s exactly what we’re doing.”
The fire at CFB Wainwright left four soldiers dead and 39 injured.
3 severely injured soldiers from Ontario, Smith says
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said Wednesday that 12 patients have been discharged. Of the 27 still in hospital, 13 are considered in critical condition, she said.
At a news conference, Smith thanked Ford, saying three of the injured soldiers are from Ontario and in “very dire health conditions” in Alberta hospitals. She said she was told Ontario was sending 19 burn unit and five operating room nurses.
“Some of the burns are 30 per cent to 80 per cent of their entire body — and sometimes the changing those dressings can take up to two hours per patient,” Smith said.
The resources will help ease pressures on local health-care staff, she added.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith thanked Ontario Premier Doug Ford in advance on Wednesday for sending help, saying three of the injured soldiers are from Ontario and in ‘very dire health conditions.’ (Kory Siegers/CBC)
Surgeons, nurses to be deployed from Sunnybrook
Dr. Alan David Rogers, a surgeon at the Ross Tilley Burn Centre at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, told CBC Radio’s Here and Now on Wednesday that a fire such as the CFB Wainwright one would overwhelm most health-care systems around the world.
“I just think about those poor patients going through what is unfortunately one of the most painful experiences one can endure. It’s a unique form of trauma and we need very, very skilled and committed people to care for them,” he said.
Rogers said Canada has well-trained nurses and doctors with expertise, but the number of patients would put an “incredible strain” on existing resources in any province. He said most provinces have one or two burn centres with a relatively small number of dedicated beds.
He said two surgeons at Sunnybrook, including himself, are on standby and a group of nurses from its burn unit are going to go to Alberta. The nurses are skilled at wound care, he said. A surgeon from Hamilton, Ont., is also prepared to go, he said.
Memorial markers, along with flowers, are pictured along the fence near the front entrance of CFB Wainwright on October 20, 2026. (Don Somers/CBC)
Alberta has a burn unit in Edmonton and Calgary, and Sunnybrook has been in contact with teams in that province to relay support, he said.
“When something like this happens with these kind of numbers, it overwhelms the system and it does make it very challenging to manage because ordinarily we’re actually close to or near or even often over capacity in our burn centres.
“And so something like this, as you can imagine, requires a great deal of on-the-spot planning to accommodate these patients appropriately,” he said.
Rogers said the complex care involved in extensive burns means several weeks, if not months, in hospital and going through multiple surgeries. The process requires committed nurses, dietitians, social workers, psychologists and surgeons. Rehab is also a “long and arduous” process, he said.
With medical staff in Alberta working tirelessly, he said he believes they will welcome the help from Ontario.
“I’m sure they’re going to be very relieved and grateful to receive support from our team to get these patients through this.”