{"id":940232,"date":"2026-10-20T16:16:32","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T16:16:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/940232\/"},"modified":"2026-10-20T16:16:32","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T16:16:32","slug":"edmonton-sergeant-killed-in-cfb-wainwright-fire-remembered-as-volunteer-leader-mentor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/940232\/","title":{"rendered":"Edmonton sergeant killed in CFB Wainwright fire remembered as volunteer leader, mentor"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/a\/assets\/texttospeech.svg\" alt=\"Text to Speech Icon\" width=\"44\" height=\"44\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Listen to this article<\/p>\n<p>Estimated 3 minutes<\/p>\n<p>The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-b3GxD html-paragraph\">A 26-year-old Edmonton man killed in a fire at a military base in east-central Alberta is being remembered as a strong leader and mentor who spent years volunteering as a medical first responder.   <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-b3GxD html-paragraph\">Sgt. Morgan Wong was one of <a class=\"link-_o8iA html-anchor\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/edmonton\/alberta-wainwright-base-fire-victims-9.7386272\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">four service members<\/a> who died during a training exercise at approximately 4 p.m. local time on Saturday at CFB Wainwright, according to a news release from the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF). <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-b3GxD html-paragraph\">The release said Wong was from the Loyal Edmonton Regiment and was serving with the 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia\u2019s Canadian Light Infantry.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-b3GxD html-paragraph\">\u201cWe loved Morgan very much and we are extremely proud of him,\u201d his family said in a statement the CAF shared with media Monday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-b3GxD html-paragraph\">\u201cHe was an incredible person who was always there whenever anyone needed him,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"A man is seen in military uniform.\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1792512991_866_default.jpg\" style=\"aspect-ratio:0.733615221987315\" data-cy=\"image-img\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption-oOSXz\">Sgt. Morgan Wong is seen in an April 15, 2026, photo commemorating his promotion to the rank of sergeant. (The Loyal Edmonton Regiment)<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-b3GxD html-paragraph\">Wong\u2019s family said he graduated from Harry Ainlay High School in south Edmonton, earned a bachelor of commerce from the University of Alberta and worked for the Alberta government as a financial analyst and manager.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-b3GxD html-paragraph\">His family said he joined the military in 2017 and served on Operation Reassurance in Latvia from October 2024 to June 2025. According to the statement, Wong was training at CFB Wainwright to prepare to deploy on his second tour in Europe.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-b3GxD html-paragraph\">Wong was also a longtime volunteer, serving as a medical first responder with St. John Ambulance since 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>WATCH | The four soldiers killed in the CFB Wainwright fire have been identified :<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1792512991_335_default.jpg\"  alt=\"\" class=\"thumbnail\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"video-item-title\">Who are the 4 service members killed at CFB Wainwright?<\/p>\n<p>The Canadian Armed Forces has released the names of the four service members killed on Oct. 17, after a fire swept through a military base in Wainwright, Alta. The four dead are Sgt. Morgan Wong, Pte. Shaun Farrell, Pte. Aidan Goulding and Pte. Hayden Lykkemark.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-b3GxD html-paragraph\">Rhyneice Cook, the community services and emergency response unit co-ordinator with St. John Ambulance in Edmonton, described him as a strong leader and mentor in an interview with CBC News on Monday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-b3GxD html-paragraph\">Cook said Wong volunteered at \u201cevery kind of event that you can possibly imagine,\u201d including at a Post Malone concert at Commonwealth Stadium that was cut short by a severe thunderstorm this summer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-b3GxD html-paragraph\">She said Wong was always cool, calm, collected, respectful and thoughtful.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-b3GxD html-paragraph\">\u201cHe had this real presence about him and we&#8217;re definitely going to miss that on our team,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-b3GxD html-paragraph\">\u201cHe meant a lot to a lot of us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Volunteers stand in a line.\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1792512992_261_default.jpg\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.3333333333333333\" data-cy=\"image-img\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption-oOSXz\">Morgan Wong, right, volunteered as a medical first responder with St. John Ambulance. (Supplied by Rhyneice Cook)<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-b3GxD html-paragraph\">Cook said Wong was quiet and it took time to get to know him but he had lots to say and was excited about being promoted to sergeant and taking on that role with the military.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-b3GxD html-paragraph\">She said volunteers have been brainstorming ways to honour him and help other families whose loved ones are still recovering in hospital. She said she donated blood Monday morning and plans to celebrate his life in other ways with volunteers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-b3GxD html-paragraph\">\u201cI think for most of us right now, it&#8217;s just about taking some time to reflect on the moments that we had with Morgan and just trying to kind of cherish that,\u201d Cook said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 3 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":940233,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194294],"tags":[49,48,23752],"class_list":["post-940232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-edmonton","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-edmonton"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/940232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=940232"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/940232\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/940233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=940232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=940232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=940232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}