Canada military base fire live: Multiple deaths and injuries after explosion sparks disaster in Alberta

While it is not immediately clear how many people have been killed or injured, a doctor at a hospital in the city of Edmonton, 180 km (120 miles) northwest, told Canada’s national broadcaster that patients were being brought to hospitals across the city as health-care facilities around the base became “completely overwhelmed” by the number of people needing care.

“This number of patients would overwhelm the city of Edmonton,” Dr. Warren Thirsk, an emergency department physician at the Royal Alexandra Hospital, told CBC News.

“It is more patients than any of us want to count right now. It’s a disaster. It’s a one in every 15 to 25-year disaster.”

Several people have been killed and injured in a major incident at a military base in Alberta after a major fire broke out, while reports said that large numbers of injured people were being transported to hospitals.

Fire crews scrambled late into the night as fierce winds whipped flames beyond Canadian Forces Base Wainwright and into the surrounding rural area.

Emergency services were called at around 4pm on Saturday (10pm GMT) with the fire spreading rapidly and local hospitals overwhelmed.

Canadian TV network Global News reports that at least seven people have been killed, citing unnamed military sources.