Photo: Darren Kirby from Nanaimo, Canada · CC BY-SA 2.0Hazard risk in Beaver County is lower than in 95% of Canadian towns
Fire seldom reaches Beaver County: since 1986, 0.8% of the land within 25 km has burned (0.03% a year). Earthquakes matter little: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.007 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. In Health Canada’s survey, 5.2% of homes tested in Beaver County’s area exceeded 200 Bq/m³, close to the typical 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Beaver County a grade of A; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Beaver County’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Beaver County: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Beaver County faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Beaver County: A
Earthquake risk and radon make Beaver County’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
Its place: #215 of 474 in Alberta and #254 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 Beaver County has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0.8% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Beaver County’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
In a typical year 0.03% of the land near Beaver County burns; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%, and both are low.
No fire has burned within 5 km of Beaver County’s homes since 1986; the nearest burn is 6.0 km away.
Only 0.1% of the land within 25 km of Beaver County is forest fuel, and 0% close in.
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
At 0.03% a year, Beaver County is near the top in Alberta: 45th of 478, behind Wainwright (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.
Some fire is mapped around Beaver County, but not enough to leave the low band, where 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are; 7.5% rank higher.
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.
No flood study is listed for Beaver County
Flood studies whose area touches Beaver County, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
The inventory has nothing for Beaver County, but a local or conservation-authority map may still exist.
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Alberta, 46% of towns against 58% nationally, and Beaver County has none.
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 Beaver County’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.”
Low seismic risk in Beaver County: $0.007 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.
Shaking costs the typical town $0.030 a year; in Beaver County it is only $0.007, 0.2 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Beaver County’s $0.007 sits under the median in Alberta, $0.013, and well under Black Diamond’s $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.
Beaver County is in the lower part of Canada’s range for earthquake risk; 88% 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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Beaver County’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).
5.2% of homes tested around Beaver County are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
At 5.2% over the guideline, the area around Beaver County is about level with the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. Behind radon tests sits data gathered across the East Central Health, with Beaver County one part of it.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Beaver County, 5.2% of tests were over 200 Bq/m³, under the median in Alberta (7.5%); 1% were over 600.
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 Beaver County’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.
The survey sampled homes around Beaver County; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Beaver County
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Beaver County; 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. |
For fires near Beaver County, the national fire information system maps danger and active fires daily; local authorities give any evacuation order.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Beaver County
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beaver County | Low | $0.007 | 5.2% | None listed |
| Tofield 2,122 · 11 km | Low | $0.008 | 5.2% | None listed |
The neighbour with the most fire is Tofield (low), still no more than Beaver County (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Beaver County faces
Practical steps for Beaver County’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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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 Beaver County.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Beaver County’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- 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 Beaver County’s.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Beaver County is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Beaver County
How big is the earthquake risk in Beaver County?
Expected earthquake damage in Beaver County comes to $0.007 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is Beaver County at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Beaver County’s low band (0.8% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2024) is short of the level that counts.
Does Beaver County flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Beaver County, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
How is Beaver County’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Beaver County grades A for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is radon a problem in Beaver County?
The area’s survey found 5.2% of 97 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Beaver County.
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).