Photo: Qyd · CC BY 2.5Hazards in Arbour Lake: wildfire low, radon over the guideline in 8.1% of tested homes
Fire seldom reaches Arbour Lake: since 1986, 0% of the land within 25 km has burned (0.000% a year). NRCan expects $0.023 of shaking damage a year per $1,000 of buildings in Arbour Lake, near the typical $0.030. Arbour Lake grades B+ for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Arbour Lake’s hazards
For Arbour Lake, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Arbour Lake faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Arbour Lake grades B+ for hazard risk
For Arbour Lake, 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: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Few fires near Arbour Lake: 0.1% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Past fire around Arbour Lake’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Arbour Lake burns at 0.000% a year, low against 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Only 1.4% of the land within 25 km of Arbour Lake is forest fuel, and 0.2% 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
Wainwright has the highest burn rate in Alberta, 1.43% a year; around Arbour Lake, as around 386 of the 478 towns, it rounds to zero.
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 Arbour Lake 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.
No flood study is listed for Arbour Lake
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Arbour Lake: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
No flood study on the national inventory covers Arbour Lake; ask the municipality, which is the authority for its flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Alberta reaches 46% of towns, below the 58% across Canada, and not Arbour Lake.
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 Arbour Lake.
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.”
Expected shaking damage in Arbour Lake: $0.023 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Earthquake losses in Arbour Lake, $0.023 per $1,000, are in line with the typical $0.030 (0.8 times).
Nobody publishes earthquake risk for Arbour Lake alone, so this card uses the figure for the city of Calgary.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Alberta expects $0.013 a year; Arbour Lake 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 Arbour Lake (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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in Arbour Lake 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 Arbour Lake: 8.1% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · The radon tests numbers here cover the Calgary Health Region
8.1% of tested homes around Arbour Lake were over the guideline, much like the typical Canadian town at 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon around Arbour Lake is ordinary for towns in Alberta: 8.1%, beside a median of 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 Arbour Lake, 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.
Whatever Arbour Lake’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 Arbour Lake
Alerts for Arbour Lake 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 Arbour Lake to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Arbour Lake’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arbour Lake | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Citadel 10,196 · 1.9 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Royal Oak 12,343 · 1.9 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Scenic Acres 8,026 · 2.0 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Ranchlands 7,376 · 2.2 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Hawkwood 9,188 · 2.3 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Silver Springs 9,042 · 3.3 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
Citadel burns a little more than Arbour Lake, in the same low band (low here).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Arbour Lake faces
Practical steps for Arbour Lake’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
- 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 Arbour Lake.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Arbour Lake takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Arbour Lake’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Wildfire counts one way. For Arbour Lake, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Arbour Lake
How big is the earthquake risk in Arbour Lake?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Arbour Lake’s buildings lose $0.023 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is radon a problem in Arbour Lake?
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 Arbour Lake.
Is Arbour Lake at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Arbour Lake’s low band (0% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2018) is short of the level that counts.
How is Arbour Lake’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Arbour Lake grades B+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Does Arbour Lake flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Arbour Lake, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
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).