Photo: Bulliver · CC BY-SA 3.0Few places are as safe from hazards as Athabasca: it beats 87% of Canadian towns
The burn rate around Athabasca is 0.05% a year (2.1% of the land within 25 km since 1986), a moderate band. Earthquakes matter little: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.003 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Radon around Athabasca is ordinary for Canada: 9.6% of tested homes over the guideline (6.6% typical). Athabasca grades A for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Athabasca’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Athabasca: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Athabasca faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Athabasca grades A for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Athabasca, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
Its place: #221 of 474 in Alberta and #515 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.
Fire reaches the land around Athabasca: 0.4% within 5 km, 2.1% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Athabasca’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Moderate: the land around Athabasca burns at 0.05% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
There is forest near Athabasca’s homes (9.5% within 5 km) and more of it further out (19% 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
The land around Athabasca burns at 0.05% a year, the 37th highest rate of 478 towns in Alberta; Wainwright tops it at 1.43%.
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.
Only 5.4% of Canada’s 2,610 towns share the moderate band with Athabasca, and 2.1% sit above it.
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.
A flood study covers Athabasca, from Government of Alberta: 1 on the inventory
Flood studies whose area touches Athabasca, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Government of Alberta holds the flood mapping that covers Athabasca (2024), linked below.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Athabasca Flood Study | Government of Alberta | 2024 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Alberta reaches 46% of towns, Athabasca among them, below the 58% across Canada.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Athabasca.
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.
Little shaking expected in Athabasca: $0.003 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.
0.1 times the typical $0.030: Athabasca’s $0.003 is low for Canada.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Below the middle in Alberta: Athabasca’s $0.003 against a median of $0.013; Black Diamond has $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.
At the bottom of Canada’s range, Athabasca has 99% of the 2,611 towns above it.
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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Athabasca’s figure, nor landslides or tsunami: it is buildings and shaking.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Some radon around Athabasca: 9.6% of area homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Athabasca’s area, at 9.6%, is close to the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town. For radon tests, the only official count covers all of the Aspen Regional Health Authority, Athabasca included.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Athabasca, 9.6% of tests were over 200 Bq/m³ and 0.5% over 600, against a median of 7.5% in Alberta.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
A middling share of high tests puts Athabasca with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, below 26% of them.
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.
One home in Athabasca can be high while next door is low; a three-month test settles it.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Athabasca
Alerts for Athabasca come from Environment and Climate Change Canada and, for emergencies, Alert Ready.
| 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. |
Evacuation orders for Athabasca come from the municipality or the province, while CWFIS maps fire danger every day.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Athabasca
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Athabasca | Moderate | $0.003 | 9.6% | Yes |
| Athabasca County 7,280 · 14 km | Moderate | $0.005 | 9.6% | Yes |
Athabasca County burns a little more than Athabasca, in the same moderate band (moderate here).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Athabasca faces
What to do about the hazards Athabasca faces, and what to ask before you buy.
- Clear needles and wood nearby.
- Keep a grab-and-go bag ready.
- In smoke, stay in; filter air.
- 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.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- How close is the forest edge?
- 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 Athabasca is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Athabasca’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- 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 Athabasca.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Shaking damage is modelled from the ground, the buildings and the odds of each quake, and published for whole subdivisions such as Athabasca’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Athabasca
How is Athabasca’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Athabasca grades A for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Does Athabasca flood?
There is flood mapping for Athabasca on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
Is radon a problem in Athabasca?
Around Athabasca, 219 survey homes were tested and 9.6% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Is Athabasca at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 2.1% of the land around Athabasca since 1986 (last in 2025); at moderate, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Athabasca?
Expected earthquake damage in Athabasca comes to $0.003 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
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).