Photo: formulanone · CC BY-SA 2.0Flood mapping exists for Airdrie: 2 on record, latest by Government of Alberta
Fire has left almost no mark near Airdrie: 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. Earthquake risk in Airdrie is ordinary: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.021 a year per $1,000 of value, close to the typical town’s $0.030. In Health Canada’s survey, 8.1% of homes tested in Airdrie’s area exceeded 200 Bq/m³, close to the typical 6.6%. Airdrie grades B+ for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Airdrie’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Airdrie: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Airdrie faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Airdrie grades B+ for hazard risk
For Airdrie, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
Its place: #270 of 474 in Alberta and #1,077 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Few fires near Airdrie: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Airdrie’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Airdrie burns at 0.000% a year, low against 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Airdrie’s homes have had no fire within 5 km since 1986; the closest was 11 km away.
Little near Airdrie’s homes can carry a forest fire; only 0% of the land within 5 km is forest fuel, and 0.1% within 25 km.
Shares of land within 5 and 25 km of populated blocks: burned at least once in 1986–2025 (CWFIS burned-area composite), forest fuel and grass (fire behaviour fuel types, 2026, 250 m grid).
Burn rate a year, towns in Alberta · highest of 478
Of the 478 towns in Alberta, 386 have a burn rate that rounds to zero, Airdrie among them; Wainwright leads at 1.43% a year.
Each bar: the yearly average share of land within 25 km of a town’s homes that burned, 1986–2025 (CWFIS); the seven highest towns of 2,500 people or more.
Most of the country’s 2,610 towns are low-band (92%, against 7.5% above); around Airdrie, burning rounds to zero.
Bands of the yearly burn rate: low under 0.05%, moderate under 0.25%, high under 1%, very high 1% or more; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Canadian Wildland Fire Information System: National Burned Area Composite 1986–2025 and fire behaviour fuel types (2026), Natural Resources Canada. Measured within 25 km and 5 km of each populated dissemination area; past fire, not a forecast.
Airdrie is on the flood map inventory: 2 studies, latest by Government of Alberta
Flood studies whose area touches Airdrie, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Government of Alberta and others have studied flooding in areas that include Airdrie: 2 studies, the latest from 2012.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nose and West Nose Creek Flood Hazard Study | Government of Alberta | 2012 | final |
| Airdrie Flood Hazard Study | Government of Alberta | 2006 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Alberta, 46% of towns against 58% nationally, but Airdrie has one.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
The 2 studies touching Airdrie are spread over time, from the 2000s to the 2010s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Airdrie.
Nothing here counts toward Risk; the studies are pointers to the maps their owners keep for Airdrie.
The inventory’s own caution (NRCan): “The Canada Flood Map (CFM) does not include every flood hazard map in Canada and may be incomplete or contain inaccuracies. It should not be relied upon as the official source of flood mapping information. Furthermore, if a map appears to be missing, this does not necessarily mean that the area has never been mapped. For the official version of a map, updated information, or confirmation of applicable regulations, please contact the local authority responsible for flood mapping.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
Expected shaking damage in Airdrie: $0.021 a year per $1,000
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
At $0.021 per $1,000, Airdrie’s earthquake risk is about the typical Canadian town’s ($0.030; 0.7 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.021, Airdrie is above the typical town in Alberta ($0.013); Black Diamond has the most at $0.048.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Middle of the pack: 63% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have more earthquake risk than Airdrie.
Each column: the share of Canada’s towns of 2,500 people or more in that range of yearly loss per $1,000 (NRCan, 2022).
The model counts damage to Airdrie’s buildings and their occupants from shaking only: not liquefaction, landslides, tsunami or fires after a quake.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Radon about average around Airdrie: 8.1% over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Around Airdrie, 8.1% of tested homes topped the guideline, near the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The typical town in Alberta has 7.5% over 200 Bq/m³; Airdrie’s area has 8.1%, much the same.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns share Airdrie’s band of 5 to 10%; 26% sit higher.
Each bar: the share of Canada’s towns of 2,500 people or more whose survey area had that share of tests over 200 Bq/m³.
Basements, soil and how a house is sealed decide its radon, so in Airdrie only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Not measured by town: radon tests (the Calgary Health Region)
Weather and fire alerts for Airdrie
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Airdrie; Alert Ready carries the urgent ones to phones, radio and TV.
| Alert | What it means |
|---|---|
| Warning | Severe weather is happening or about to: act now. |
| Watch | Conditions favour severe weather: be ready. |
| Advisory | Weather that is less severe but could disrupt the day. |
| Special weather statement | Unusual weather worth knowing about. |
| Special air quality statement | Poor air, often wildfire smoke. |
In fire season, check CWFIS for danger and active fires around Airdrie, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Airdrie
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Airdrie | Low | $0.021 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Livingston 3,929 · 11 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Carrington 2,920 · 12 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Coventry Hills 17,391 · 13 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Redstone 13,230 · 13 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Country Hills Village 2,731 · 13 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Evanston 21,483 · 14 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
Among its neighbours Airdrie has the most fire on record (low); Livingston follows (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Airdrie faces
Practical steps for Airdrie’s hazards, most pressing first.
- Test for three months in winter.
- Over 200 Bq/m³: fix it.
- Kits are cheap; pros test too.
- Never drive through floodwater.
- Move papers and medicines upstairs.
- Ask whether your street is mapped.
- Clear needles and wood nearby.
- Keep a grab-and-go bag ready.
- In smoke, stay in; filter air.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Airdrie is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Airdrie’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. NRCan’s inventory says where flood mapping exists, not where water goes; the map’s owner is the authority for Airdrie.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Airdrie’s figure is its subdivision’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Airdrie
How is Airdrie’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Airdrie grades B+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is Airdrie at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Airdrie’s low band (0% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2017) is short of the level that counts.
How big is the earthquake risk in Airdrie?
About $0.021 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Airdrie.
Does Airdrie flood?
There is flood mapping for Airdrie on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
Is radon a problem in Airdrie?
The area’s survey found 8.1% of 86 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Airdrie.
Seismic risk: Natural Resources Canada. Radon: Health Canada. Wildfire: Canadian Wildland Fire Information System. Flood studies: Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada.
Sources: NRCan, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model 2022 · Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes · CWFIS, National Burned Area Composite and FBP fuel types · NRCan, Canada Flood Map Inventory. Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).