Before he was airlifted to hospital and intubated, Cpl. Sean Hiatt — the second-youngest in a family of 12 — managed to call his mom and tell her he’d been injured in a training accident at CFB Wainwright.
The 24-year-old was coherent at the time, according to his sister, and it gave the family hope.
Now they’re focused on his immediate care, and taking things 12 hours at a time.
On Saturday afternoon, Hiatt suffered burns to about half of his body when wind gusts of up to 90 km/h pushed a grass fire one kilometre in less than a minute and onto a group of soldiers doing live-fire training.
Four soldiers were killed and 39 were injured. Hospitals across the province took in the wounded, including University of Alberta Hospital in Edmonton where Hiatt’s medevac landed.
“He was, and still is, sedated and intubated, he was completely wrapped up, they didn’t know the degree at that point because they had to get him stable,” Hiatt’s sister Kelly Patterson said in an interview with CBC News.
“It is really rough…. It was a shock to see him like that.”
Of the injured, 19 are in critical condition, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said at a news conference on Sunday.
One of those is Hiatt, from Edson, Alta., about 200 kilometres west of Edmonton.
One by one, family members began showing up at Hiatt’s bedside — brothers, a nephew, sisters and parents — to be with the guy they describe as “happy going”and “cheerful.”
Patterson says her brother “perked up” with every visit, breathing a little bit better and “looking a little brighter.”
The road ahead is going to be long and Patterson says Hiatt is “not out of the woods.”
Doctors are still concerned about lung damage and have yet to begin skin grafts. He faces weeks in the ICU and months longer in hospital.
The family is leaning on prayer and the knowledge that Hiatt is “a fighter.”
“He got out of there so he’s going to make it,” said Patterson.
Meanwhile, 200 kilometres from Hiatt’s hospital bed, he and the other injured and fallen soldiers are on the minds of folks in Wainwright, a town deeply connected to its base.
“Everyone’s really connected, everyone really cares for each other,” said Grade 12 student Rylan Pow. “It really was heartbreaking honestly.”
Grade 12 students showed up Monday morning with bouquets of flowers to pay their respects to those who were injured and killed in Saturday’s fire at CFB Wainwright. (Gilbert Rowan/CBC)
On Monday morning, with their principal’s blessing, Pow and his entire class from Blessed Sacrament School showed up with their teacher to lay flowers at the town’s memorial clock cenotaph.
Teacher Janae Wildboer said she was in a panic when she learned of the fatal fire and wondered what she could do to help.
“Our school just wanted to do something to honour those who have lost their lives,” said Wildboer. “The whole community is feeling this; it’s heavy and we’re just now supporting where we can.”
Down the street, outside of the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 29, which was set up Monday as a referendum polling station, David Campbell finished voting and then turned his mind back to the tragedy.
“Everyone’s still kind of in shock,” said Campbell, who has lived in the area for more than 40 years.
“The base is very important, a lot of people work here. We’re farmers and we have cattle in the community pasture, we work with the military all the time, they live in town here, a lot of them.
“They’re part of the community, we know so many of them. Their kids are in hockey, my grandkids are playing hockey with a lot of the kids. It’s very devastating.”
As the winds changed direction Sunday night and into Monday, the smell of smoke drifted in and out of the community. Fire Chief Aime Smyl warned that could continue in the days ahead.
The fire is still burning but considered contained, said Smyl in his social media post Monday afternoon. It’s not expected to breach the fire guard.
Local MP and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre attended the Wainwright cenotaph with flowers Monday morning. (Josh McLean/CBC News)
Smyl also thanked the seven other fire services that stepped up to help with Saturday’s grassfire response.
“I am also humbled by the number of departments that reached out to help,” he wrote.
By Monday morning, some of Smyl’s firefighters had been awake for three days, according to Local MP and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, who showed up at the cenotaph with flowers after a meeting with the fire chief.
Poilievre thanked the first responders, “who ran towards and not away from the fire” to help.
“It has been a phenomenal show of the best of Canada here in Wainwright.”
