Photo: formulanone · CC BY-SA 2.0Beltline is on Canada’s flood inventory: 1 listed, led by Government of Alberta
The national fire record shows next to nothing around Beltline, 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). NRCan expects $0.023 of shaking damage a year per $1,000 of buildings in Beltline, near the typical $0.030. Radon around Beltline is ordinary for Canada: 8.1% of tested homes over the guideline (6.6% typical). Beltline grades B+ for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Beltline’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Beltline: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Beltline faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Beltline: B+
The grade weighs Beltline’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: #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 Beltline: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Past fire around Beltline’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Next to the typical Canadian town (0.000% a year), Beltline’s 0.000% is in the low band.
The 5 km ring around Beltline’s homes is clear of burns since 1986, the nearest 11 km out.
Land that isn’t forest covers nearly all the ground around Beltline: forest fuel is 0% within 5 km and 1.1% 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
Fire has taken almost none of the land around Beltline, as for 386 of the 478 towns in Alberta; Wainwright tops the list 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; Beltline 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.
A flood study covers Beltline, from Government of Alberta: 1 on the inventory
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Beltline: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The flood study touching Beltline is Government of Alberta’s, dated 2025; its own map shows the zones street by street.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bow and Elbow River Flood Study | Government of Alberta | 2025 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Alberta reaches 46% of towns, Beltline among them, below the 58% across Canada.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Beltline’s homes stand in a flood zone.
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.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
Expected shaking damage in Beltline: $0.023 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Beltline’s $0.023 is close to the typical town’s $0.030 (0.8 times as much).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.023, Beltline is above the typical town in Alberta ($0.013); Black Diamond has the most 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.
Middle of the pack: 54% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have more earthquake risk than Beltline.
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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Beltline’s figure, nor landslides or tsunami: it is buildings and shaking.
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 Beltline are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Radon tests for the Calgary Health Region
8.1% of tested homes around Beltline were over the guideline, much like the typical Canadian town at 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Beltline’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.
Beltline is in the 5–10% band with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% have more.
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.
Basements, soil and how a house is sealed decide its radon, so in Beltline only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Beltline
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Beltline; 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. |
For fires near Beltline, the national fire information system maps danger and active fires daily; local authorities give any evacuation order.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Beltline’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beltline | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Lower Mount Royal 3,136 · 0.8 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Downtown Commercial Core 9,286 · 1.0 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Downtown West End 2,796 · 1.0 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Mission 6,329 · 1.0 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Upper Mount Royal 2,758 · 1.2 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Eau Claire 3,733 · 1.4 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
Fire is no heavier anywhere nearby than around Beltline (low), with Lower Mount Royal next at low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Beltline faces
What to do about the hazards Beltline 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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Earthquakes are modelled. Shaking damage is modelled from the ground, the buildings and the odds of each quake, and published for whole subdivisions such as Beltline’s.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. NRCan’s inventory says where flood mapping exists, not where water goes; the map’s owner is the authority for Beltline.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Beltline is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Beltline’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Beltline
How big is the earthquake risk in Beltline?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Beltline $0.023 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Does Beltline flood?
There is flood mapping for Beltline on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
Is radon a problem in Beltline?
In Health Canada’s survey, 8.1% of 86 homes tested in Beltline’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Is Beltline at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0% of the land within 25 km of Beltline has burned since 1986, the last in 2014, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
How is Beltline’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Beltline’s Hazard risk grade is B+, 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).