Hazards in Applewood Park: wildfire low, radon over the guideline in 8.1% of tested homes
The burned-area map is nearly blank around Applewood Park, 0% within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. Shaking is about as much of a worry in Applewood Park as in most places, at $0.023 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Hazard risk gives Applewood Park a grade of B+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Applewood Park’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Applewood Park: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Applewood Park faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Applewood Park: B+
Seismic risk and radon set Applewood Park’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
Its place: #282 of 474 in Alberta and #1,102 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Few fires near Applewood Park: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Past fire around Applewood Park’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
In a typical year 0.000% of the land near Applewood Park burns; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%, and both are low.
No fire has burned within 5 km of Applewood Park’s homes since 1986; the nearest burn is 20 km away.
Forest fuel is scarce around Applewood Park: 0% of the land within 5 km, 0.4% 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
Near-zero burning puts Applewood Park 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.
92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are in the low band and 7.5% above it; Applewood Park is among the many where the yearly burn rate 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.
No flood study is listed for Applewood Park
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Applewood Park: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
NRCan’s inventory is silent on Applewood Park, so any flood map would be the municipality’s own.
Towns with a flood study on file
No study touches Applewood Park; in Alberta, 46% of towns have one, below Canada’s 58%.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Applewood Park’s homes are at risk.
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.”
Ordinary seismic risk in Applewood Park: $0.023 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Nothing unusual about Applewood Park’s ground: $0.023 against a typical $0.030, 0.8 times.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Alberta expects $0.013 a year; Applewood Park expects $0.023, 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.
Around half of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Applewood Park (54%).
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).
The model counts damage to Applewood Park’s buildings and their occupants from shaking only: not liquefaction, landslides, tsunami or fires after a quake.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean). · Earthquake risk: the city of Calgary
8.1% of homes tested around Applewood Park are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
8.1% of tested homes around Applewood Park were over the guideline, much like the typical Canadian town at 6.6%. For radon tests, the only official count covers all of the Calgary Health Region, Applewood Park included.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Applewood Park’s area, at 8.1%, 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.
Radon tops the guideline in a modest share of homes around Applewood Park, 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.
The share describes the area, not a house: in Applewood Park as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Applewood Park
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Applewood Park; 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 Applewood Park, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Applewood Park’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Applewood Park | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Penbrooke Meadows 10,001 · 1.2 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Abbeydale 6,561 · 1.4 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Marlborough Park 8,378 · 2.2 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Forest Heights 6,120 · 2.8 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Forest Lawn 7,513 · 3.2 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Marlborough 8,932 · 3.3 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
Fire is no heavier anywhere nearby than around Applewood Park (low), with Penbrooke Meadows next at low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Applewood Park faces
Practical steps for Applewood Park’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. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Applewood Park’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Applewood Park’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. The flood inventory points to maps; it is incomplete and not the official source, so ask the municipality about any street in Applewood Park.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Applewood Park takes its 2007 health region’s share.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Applewood Park
How big is the earthquake risk in Applewood Park?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Applewood Park’s buildings lose $0.023 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Does Applewood Park flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Applewood Park (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
How is Applewood Park’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Applewood Park’s Hazard risk grade is B+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is Applewood Park at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Applewood Park’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2014), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Is radon a problem in Applewood Park?
8.1% of the 86 homes Health Canada tested around Applewood Park topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
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).