Photo: Madereugeneandrew · CC BY-SA 4.0A flood study covers Blackfalds: 1 on the national inventory, the newest from Government of Alberta
The national fire record shows next to nothing around Blackfalds, 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). Shaking is about as much of a worry in Blackfalds as in most places, at $0.018 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). In Health Canada’s survey, 7.5% of homes tested in Blackfalds’ area exceeded 200 Bq/m³, close to the typical 6.6%. Blackfalds grades A− for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Blackfalds’s hazards
For Blackfalds, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Blackfalds faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Blackfalds grades A− for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Blackfalds with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #257 of 474 in Alberta and #867 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Few fires near Blackfalds: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Past fire around Blackfalds’ homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Next to the typical Canadian town (0.000% a year), Blackfalds’ 0.000% is in the low band.
Forest makes up 1.6% of the land within 5 km of Blackfalds and 0.7% within 25 km, little for a forest fire to run through.
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
Near-zero burning puts Blackfalds with 386 of the 478 towns in Alberta, far below Wainwright 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.
Most of the country’s 2,610 towns are low-band (92%, against 7.5% above); around Blackfalds, 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.
A flood study covers Blackfalds, from Government of Alberta: 1 on the inventory
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Blackfalds: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Government of Alberta holds the flood mapping that covers Blackfalds (2025), linked below.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red Deer River Flood Study | Government of Alberta | 2025 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 46% of towns in Alberta have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%; Blackfalds is one of them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood mapping is shown for Blackfalds to be opened and checked, never turned into a grade.
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.
Ordinary seismic risk in Blackfalds: $0.018 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Nothing unusual about Blackfalds’ ground: $0.018 against a typical $0.030, 0.6 times.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Alberta expects $0.013 a year; Blackfalds expects $0.018, and Black Diamond $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.
Earthquakes cost less around Blackfalds than in 68% of Canada’s 2,611 towns.
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).
What a quake does after the shaking, fire, landslides, tsunami, falls outside NRCan’s figure for Blackfalds.
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 Blackfalds: 7.5% over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Measured across the David Thompson Regional Health Authority: radon tests
Near the middle for radon: Blackfalds’ area 7.5%, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon around Blackfalds is ordinary for towns in Alberta: 7.5%, beside a median of 7.5%.
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 Blackfalds 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.
A low area share in Blackfalds doesn’t clear a house, nor does a high one condemn it: test.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Blackfalds
Alerts for Blackfalds 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. |
Alert Ready carries evacuation orders for Blackfalds to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Blackfalds’ neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blackfalds | Low | $0.018 | 7.5% | Yes |
| Lacombe County 11,072 · 7.3 km | Low | $0.014 | 7.5% | Yes |
| Lacombe 14,733 · 11 km | Low | $0.016 | 7.5% | Yes |
| Red Deer 115,409 · 13 km | Low | $0.017 | 7.5% | Yes |
| Bentley 1,153 · 19 km | Low | $0.009 | 7.5% | None listed |
Among its neighbours Blackfalds has the most fire on record (low); Lacombe County follows (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Blackfalds faces
What to do about the hazards Blackfalds faces, and what to ask before you buy.
- 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. Burned land within 25 km of where people live, averaged over 1986–2025 and checked for fuel near homes, is the measure; it looks back, not ahead, and only ever counts against Blackfalds.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. A study’s area can be a whole watershed or province, so being on the inventory says a map exists, not that a home in Blackfalds floods.
- Radon is a survey. The radon share comes from about 14,000 long-term home tests in 2009–2011, pooled for now by the 2007 health region Blackfalds sits in.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Blackfalds’ included.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Blackfalds
Does Blackfalds flood?
Blackfalds’ area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
How big is the earthquake risk in Blackfalds?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Blackfalds’ buildings lose $0.018 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is radon a problem in Blackfalds?
In Health Canada’s survey, 7.5% of 107 homes tested in Blackfalds’ area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Is Blackfalds at risk of wildfire?
The burned-area record shows next to nothing around Blackfalds (0% within 25 km since 1986), so its band is low.
How is Blackfalds’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Blackfalds grades A− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
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).