Hazards in Abbeydale: wildfire low, radon over the guideline in 8.1% of tested homes
Since 1986 almost nothing has burned near Abbeydale: 0% of the land within 25 km, or 0.000% a year. Seismic risk in Abbeydale sits near the middle: $0.023 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Abbeydale grades B+ for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Abbeydale’s hazards
For Abbeydale, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Abbeydale faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Abbeydale grades B+ for hazard risk
For Abbeydale, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
Its place: #282 of 474 in Alberta and #1,102 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 Abbeydale: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Abbeydale’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
At 0.000% of the land a year, Abbeydale’s burn rate is in the low band; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
No fire has burned within 5 km of Abbeydale’s homes since 1986; the nearest burn is 21 km away.
Only 0.4% of the land within 25 km of Abbeydale 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
To three decimals the burn rate around Abbeydale is zero, as for 386 of the 478 towns in Alberta, while Wainwright reaches 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.
The low band holds 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, and Abbeydale sits at its very bottom; only 7.5% are above it.
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 Abbeydale
Flood studies whose area touches Abbeydale, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
An empty entry for Abbeydale on the inventory isn’t proof of safety; ask locally for flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Alberta reaches 46% of towns, below the 58% across Canada, and not Abbeydale.
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 Abbeydale.
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.”
Earthquakes cost buildings in Abbeydale $0.023 per $1,000 a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
With $0.023 of shaking damage a year per $1,000, Abbeydale is about even with the typical $0.030 (0.8 times).
Nobody publishes earthquake risk for Abbeydale alone, so this card uses the figure for the city of Calgary.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Above the middle in Alberta: Abbeydale’s $0.023 against a median of $0.013, with Black Diamond 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.
Abbeydale’s earthquake risk lands near the centre of Canada’s range; 54% 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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in Abbeydale 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).
Some radon around Abbeydale: 8.1% of area homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
The survey area of Abbeydale reads 8.1%, a shade from the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. For radon tests, the only official count covers all of the Calgary Health Region, Abbeydale included.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Abbeydale, 8.1% of tests topped the guideline, about the same as the typical town in Alberta (7.5%).
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Radon tops the guideline in a modest share of homes around Abbeydale, a band holding 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% rank above.
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 Abbeydale 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 Abbeydale
Alerts for Abbeydale 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. |
Evacuation orders for Abbeydale come from the municipality or the province, while CWFIS maps fire danger every day.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Abbeydale’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abbeydale | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Applewood Park 6,835 · 1.4 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Marlborough Park 8,378 · 1.6 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Penbrooke Meadows 10,001 · 2.1 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Pineridge 10,062 · 2.3 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Monterey Park 10,363 · 2.8 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Marlborough 8,932 · 3.1 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Abbeydale (low); Applewood Park comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Abbeydale faces
Practical steps for Abbeydale’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
- 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 Abbeydale.
- 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 Abbeydale 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 Abbeydale sits in.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Abbeydale’s included.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Abbeydale
Is radon a problem in Abbeydale?
The area’s survey found 8.1% of 86 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Abbeydale.
Does Abbeydale flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Abbeydale, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
How big is the earthquake risk in Abbeydale?
About $0.023 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Abbeydale.
How is Abbeydale’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Abbeydale’s Hazard risk grade is B+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is Abbeydale at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Abbeydale’s low band (0% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2014) is short of the level that counts.
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).