A night of fear and silence gripped Canada on Saturday after Prime Minister Mark Carney announced, just after 8 p.m. Eastern, that a “serious incident” had triggered a major fire at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright in Alberta. The base, about 210 kilometres east of Edmonton, is the country’s principal site for live-fire training, which only adds to the questions swirling around what went wrong. Local officials said the fire, pushed along by strong winds, crossed the base fence into the Municipal District of Wainwright, where crews have been working to manage it. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith described a “significant and tragic fire” affecting many military personnel, and Acute Care Alberta said EMS crews were on scene providing care and transport. Carney said his government was working closely with Alberta and local authorities, and that he and the premier were in close contact.

The picture darkened later in the night when Defence Minister David McGuinty confirmed that people had been killed and injured in the incident, though officials have not said how many. Nothing official has been released about what caused it, and the Department of National Defence says it will share more as details are confirmed. Alberta MP Dane Lloyd wrote online that there was an explosion and fire in high winds, but authorities have not confirmed that account, so the flood of online speculation should be treated with caution. According to Reuters, no evacuation orders had been issued as of its report. For now, Canadians are waiting on answers about who was lost, how the fire began, and how it got past the base perimeter.