Photo: xlibber · CC BY 2.0Bonnyville No. 87 faces fewer hazards than 86% of Canadian towns
The burn rate around Bonnyville No. 87 is 0.12% a year (4.3% of the land within 25 km since 1986), a moderate band. Shaking is less of a worry than in most places, at $0.004 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Radon around Bonnyville No. 87 is ordinary for Canada: 9.6% of tested homes over the guideline (6.6% typical). Bonnyville No. 87 grades A for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Bonnyville No. 87’s hazards
For Bonnyville No. 87, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Bonnyville No. 87 faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Bonnyville No. 87 grades A for hazard risk
For Bonnyville No. 87, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
Its place: #226 of 474 in Alberta and #563 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.
A moderate wildfire record for Bonnyville No. 87: 4.3% within 25 km burned, 0.3% within 5 km
Past fire around Bonnyville No. 87’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The yearly burn rate around Bonnyville No. 87 is 0.12%, above 0.000% for the typical Canadian town but under the high band.
Forest thickens with distance from Bonnyville No. 87: 10% of the land within 5 km, 16% 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
Wainwright burns fastest in Alberta at 1.43% a year; Bonnyville No. 87, at 0.12%, ranks 22nd of 478.
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.
Bonnyville No. 87 is in the moderate band, which holds 5.4% of Canada’s 2,610 towns; 2.1% 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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Bonnyville No. 87
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Bonnyville No. 87: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
No flood study on the national inventory covers Bonnyville No. 87; ask the municipality, which is the authority for its flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Alberta, 46% of towns against 58% nationally, and Bonnyville No. 87 has none.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Nothing here counts toward Risk; the studies are pointers to the maps their owners keep for Bonnyville No. 87.
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.”
Little shaking expected in Bonnyville No. 87: $0.004 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.004 per $1,000, Bonnyville No. 87 carries 0.1 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030): low.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.004, Bonnyville No. 87 is below the typical town in Alberta ($0.013); Black Diamond is highest 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.
Nearly every one of Canada’s 2,611 towns (98%) expects more shaking damage than Bonnyville No. 87.
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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in Bonnyville No. 87 is counted; landslides, liquefaction, tsunami and fire after a quake aren’t.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
9.6% of homes tested around Bonnyville No. 87 are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
At 9.6% over the guideline, the area around Bonnyville No. 87 is about level with the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. For radon tests, the only official count covers all of the Aspen Regional Health Authority, Bonnyville No. 87 included.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Bonnyville No. 87’s area, at 9.6%, is above the median in Alberta (7.5%), and 0.5% of its tests passed 600 Bq/m³.
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: Bonnyville No. 87, 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.
Whatever Bonnyville No. 87’s area share, the reading that matters is your own home’s, over a winter.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Bonnyville No. 87
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Bonnyville No. 87; 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 Bonnyville No. 87, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Bonnyville No. 87’s neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bonnyville No. 87 | Moderate | $0.004 | 9.6% | None listed |
| Bonnyville 7,366 · 7.8 km | Low | $0.005 | 9.6% | None listed |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Bonnyville No. 87 (moderate); Bonnyville comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Bonnyville No. 87 faces
Practical steps for Bonnyville No. 87’s hazards, most pressing first.
- 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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- How close is the forest edge?
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Bonnyville No. 87’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Wildfire counts one way. For Bonnyville No. 87, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- 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 Bonnyville No. 87 sits in.
- 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 Bonnyville No. 87 floods.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Bonnyville No. 87
How is Bonnyville No. 87’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Bonnyville No. 87 grades A for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Does Bonnyville No. 87 flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Bonnyville No. 87 (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
Is radon a problem in Bonnyville No. 87?
9.6% of the 219 homes Health Canada tested around Bonnyville No. 87 topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How big is the earthquake risk in Bonnyville No. 87?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Bonnyville No. 87’s buildings lose $0.004 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is Bonnyville No. 87 at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Bonnyville No. 87’s band is moderate, with 4.3% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2025), so wildfire doesn’t change its 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).