Photo: awmcphee · CC BY-SA 4.0Barrhead is on Canada’s flood inventory: 1 listed, led by Government of Alberta
The national fire record shows next to nothing around Barrhead, 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). Earthquakes matter little: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.013 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Radon is about average around Barrhead: 9.6% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Barrhead a grade of B+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Barrhead’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Barrhead: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Barrhead faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Barrhead: B+
For Barrhead, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
Its place: #271 of 474 in Alberta and #1,079 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.
Little of the land around Barrhead has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Barrhead’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Low by Canadian standards: 0.000% of the land a year around Barrhead, 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Around Barrhead the forest is thin or far off: 0.4% of the land within 5 km and 3.7% within 25 km is forest fuel.
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
Among the 478 towns in Alberta, Wainwright burns fastest (1.43% a year); Barrhead is with the 386 near zero.
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.
92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are in the low band and 7.5% above it; Barrhead is among the many where the yearly burn rate 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.
Government of Alberta has mapped flooding for Barrhead (1 study)
Flood studies whose area touches Barrhead, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
The flood study touching Barrhead is Government of Alberta’s, dated 2004; its own map shows the zones street by street.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barrhead Flood Hazard Study | Government of Alberta | 2004 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Its flood study sets Barrhead apart in Alberta, where 46% of towns have one (Canada: 58%).
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Barrhead’s homes are at risk.
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.
Low seismic risk in Barrhead: $0.013 per $1,000 of buildings a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
At $0.013 per $1,000, Barrhead carries 0.4 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030): low.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Shaking damage around Barrhead runs at $0.013 a year, near the $0.013 of the typical town in Alberta; 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.
Barrhead is in the lower part of Canada’s range for earthquake risk; 75% of the 2,611 towns are higher.
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 Barrhead’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).
Some radon around Barrhead: 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.
9.6% of tested homes around Barrhead were over the guideline, much like the typical Canadian town at 6.6%. Figures for radon tests are published for the Aspen Regional Health Authority as a whole, not for Barrhead alone.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Barrhead than in most towns in Alberta: 9.6% over the guideline (7.5% is typical), 0.5% over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Between 5% and 10% of tests over the guideline: Barrhead, and 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% are 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.
The share describes the area, not a house: in Barrhead as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Barrhead
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Barrhead; 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 Barrhead, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Barrhead’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barrhead | Low | $0.013 | 9.6% | Yes |
| Barrhead County No. 11 6,186 · 8.5 km | Low | $0.013 | 9.6% | Yes |
Barrhead County No. 11 burns a little more than Barrhead, in the same low band (low here).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Barrhead faces
Practical steps for Barrhead’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
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Barrhead’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 Barrhead.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Barrhead is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Barrhead’s figure is its subdivision’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Barrhead
Is Barrhead at risk of wildfire?
No meaningful wildfire history near Barrhead: 0% of nearby land since 1986, band low.
Is radon a problem in Barrhead?
9.6% of the 219 homes Health Canada tested around Barrhead topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How is Barrhead’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Barrhead B+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
How big is the earthquake risk in Barrhead?
Expected earthquake damage in Barrhead comes to $0.013 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Does Barrhead flood?
There is flood mapping for Barrhead on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
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).