Hazards in Canyon Meadows: wildfire low, radon over the guideline in 8.1% of tested homes
Little of the land around Canyon Meadows has burned: 0% within 25 km since 1986, or 0.000% a year. Shaking is about as much of a worry in Canyon Meadows as in most places, at $0.023 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Hazard risk gives Canyon Meadows a grade of B+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Canyon Meadows’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Canyon Meadows: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Canyon Meadows faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Canyon Meadows grades B+ for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Canyon Meadows with little fire nearby would get no credit for 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 Canyon Meadows: 0.2% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Past fire around Canyon Meadows’ homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
At 0.000% of the land a year, Canyon Meadows’ burn rate is in the low band; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Forest fuel is scarce around Canyon Meadows: 1.6% of the land within 5 km, 1.9% 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 Canyon Meadows 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.
Measured against 2,610 towns, Canyon Meadows is in the largest group, low (92%), and at its floor, while 7.5% 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.
No flood study is listed for Canyon Meadows
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Canyon Meadows: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The inventory has nothing for Canyon Meadows, but a local or conservation-authority map may still exist.
Towns with a flood study on file
No study touches Canyon Meadows; 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.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Canyon Meadows’ 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.”
Ordinary seismic risk in Canyon Meadows: $0.023 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Canyon Meadows’ $0.023 is close to the typical town’s $0.030 (0.8 times as much).
Canyon Meadows doesn’t get its own earthquake risk figures; the ones here come from the city of Calgary.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in Alberta peaks in Black Diamond ($0.048); Canyon Meadows, at $0.023, sits above the median of $0.013.
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 Canyon Meadows.
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 Canyon Meadows’ 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).
Some radon around Canyon Meadows: 8.1% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Source area for radon tests: the Calgary Health Region
At 8.1% over the guideline, the area around Canyon Meadows is about level with the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon around Canyon Meadows 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.
A middling share of high tests puts Canyon Meadows with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, below 26% of them.
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.
One home in Canyon Meadows can be high while next door is low; a three-month test settles it.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Canyon Meadows
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Canyon Meadows; 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 Canyon Meadows, 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)
Hazards in the places around Canyon Meadows
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canyon Meadows | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Southwood 6,092 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Lake Bonavista 11,154 · 2.1 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Fish Creek Park 9,045 · 2.2 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Woodlands 5,391 · 2.3 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Braeside 5,706 · 2.4 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Willow Park 6,891 · 2.7 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
Canyon Meadows’ low band tops its neighbours; Southwood is next (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Canyon Meadows faces
What to do about the hazards Canyon Meadows 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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Canyon Meadows takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Canyon Meadows’ homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- 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 Canyon Meadows’.
- 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 Canyon Meadows.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Canyon Meadows
How is Canyon Meadows’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Canyon Meadows grades B+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Does Canyon Meadows flood?
Nothing is listed for Canyon Meadows on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
How big is the earthquake risk in Canyon Meadows?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Canyon Meadows $0.023 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is radon a problem in Canyon Meadows?
In Health Canada’s survey, 8.1% of 86 homes tested in Canyon Meadows’ area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Is Canyon Meadows at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0% of the land within 25 km of Canyon Meadows has burned since 1986, the last in 2014, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
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).