Photo: Unknown author Unknown author · Public domainHazards in Bonnyville: wildfire low, radon over the guideline in 9.6% of tested homes
Wildfire is rare near Bonnyville: 0.6% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, a burn rate of 0.02% a year. Shaking is less of a worry than in most places, at $0.005 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Hazard risk gives Bonnyville a grade of A−; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Bonnyville’s hazards
For Bonnyville, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Bonnyville faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Bonnyville: A−
The grade weighs Bonnyville’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
Its place: #232 of 474 in Alberta and #588 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.
Wildfire is rare near Bonnyville: 0.6% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Bonnyville’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Bonnyville burns at 0.02% a year, low against 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
The 5 km ring around Bonnyville’s homes is clear of burns since 1986, the nearest 8.9 km out.
Forest fuel rises from 0.1% within 5 km of Bonnyville to 7% within 25 km: the fuel lies away from homes.
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 0.02% a year, Bonnyville is near the top in Alberta: 53rd 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.
Beside 2,610 Canadian towns, Bonnyville reads low, with 92% of them; only 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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Bonnyville
Flood studies whose area touches Bonnyville, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
There is no study for Bonnyville on the national flood inventory, which is far from complete.
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Alberta reaches 46% of towns, below the 58% across Canada, and not Bonnyville.
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.
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 Bonnyville: $0.005 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.
Bonnyville’s $0.005 is a fraction of the typical town’s $0.030 (0.2 times as much): quiet ground by Canadian standards.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Alberta expects $0.013 a year in shaking damage; Bonnyville expects less, $0.005, and Black Diamond the most, $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.
Bonnyville is among Canada’s quietest towns for earthquakes: 96% of the 2,611 expect more damage.
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 Bonnyville.
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 are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
The survey area of Bonnyville reads 9.6%, a shade from the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
More homes top the guideline around Bonnyville (9.6%) than in the typical town in Alberta (7.5%); 0.5% went over 600.
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 Bonnyville 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.
Radon varies from house to house in Bonnyville, so the survey is a reason to test, not a result for yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests: the Aspen Regional Health Authority
Where to get warnings in Bonnyville
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Bonnyville; 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. |
Smoke and fire warnings for Bonnyville come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Bonnyville’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bonnyville | Low | $0.005 | 9.6% | None listed |
| Bonnyville No. 87 13,265 · 7.8 km | Moderate | $0.004 | 9.6% | None listed |
Fire is heaviest around Bonnyville No. 87 (moderate), against low for Bonnyville.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Bonnyville faces
What to do about the hazards Bonnyville 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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- 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 Bonnyville.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Bonnyville’s included.
- Radon is a survey. Radon figures pool the survey’s home tests by area: postal areas once their boundaries arrive, the 2007 health region around Bonnyville until then.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Bonnyville without grading them.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Bonnyville
Does Bonnyville flood?
Nothing is listed for Bonnyville on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
Is radon a problem in Bonnyville?
In Health Canada’s survey, 9.6% of 219 homes tested in Bonnyville’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
How is Bonnyville’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Bonnyville grades A− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is Bonnyville at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0.6% of the land within 25 km of Bonnyville has burned since 1986, the last in 2025, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
How big is the earthquake risk in Bonnyville?
Expected earthquake damage in Bonnyville comes to $0.005 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).