Photo: Qyd · CC BY-SA 3.0Hazards in Brazeau County: wildfire moderate, radon over the guideline in 7.5% of tested homes
Fire reaches the land around Brazeau County now and then: 2.6% within 25 km since 1986 (0.07% a year), below the high band. 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. Brazeau County grades A− for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Brazeau County’s hazards
For Brazeau County, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Brazeau 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 Brazeau County: A−
Earthquake risk and radon make Brazeau County’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
Its place: #237 of 474 in Alberta and #647 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.
Fire reaches the land around Brazeau County: 3.8% within 5 km, 2.6% within 25 km
Past fire around Brazeau County’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
At 0.07% of the land a year, Brazeau County’s burn rate is moderate; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
There is forest near Brazeau County’s homes (21% within 5 km) and more of it further out (37% 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; Brazeau County, at 0.07%, ranks 34th 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.
Brazeau County 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 Brazeau County
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Brazeau County: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Nationally, Brazeau County has no listed flood study; the municipality is the place to ask.
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Alberta reaches 46% of towns, below the 58% across Canada, and not Brazeau County.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Brazeau County.
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 Brazeau County: $0.013 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Shaking costs the typical town $0.030 a year; in Brazeau County it is only $0.013, 0.4 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk around Brazeau County ($0.013) matches the middle in Alberta ($0.013), far from 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.
75% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Brazeau County.
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).
For Brazeau County the model prices shaking damage to buildings, nothing more.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
7.5% of homes tested around Brazeau County are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
At 7.5% over the guideline, the area around Brazeau County is about level with the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. Nobody publishes radon tests for Brazeau County alone, so this card uses the figure for the David Thompson Regional Health Authority.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Brazeau County’s area, at 7.5%, is close to the median in Alberta (7.5%).
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 Brazeau 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.
Neighbouring homes in Brazeau County can differ a lot; only a long-term test tells you about yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Brazeau County
Alerts for Brazeau County 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 Brazeau County to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Brazeau County’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brazeau County | Moderate | $0.013 | 7.5% | None listed |
| Drayton Valley 8,047 · 2.0 km | Moderate | $0.013 | 7.5% | None listed |
The fire record around Drayton Valley is a touch heavier than Brazeau County’s, but the band is the same: moderate (here moderate).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Brazeau County faces
Practical steps for Brazeau County’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
- 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 Brazeau County floods.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Brazeau County, 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 Brazeau County sits in.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Brazeau County’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
Questions about flooding and hazards in Brazeau County
Is Brazeau County at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Brazeau County’s moderate band (2.6% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2025) is short of the level that counts.
Is radon a problem in Brazeau County?
The area’s survey found 7.5% of 107 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Brazeau County.
How big is the earthquake risk in Brazeau County?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Brazeau County $0.013 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Does Brazeau County flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Brazeau County, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
How is Brazeau County’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Brazeau County’s Hazard risk grade is A−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
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).