Wildfire low, radon 8.1%: how Carrington stands on hazards
The national fire record shows next to nothing around Carrington, 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). Shaking is about as much of a worry in Carrington as in most places, at $0.023 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Carrington grades B+ for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Carrington’s hazards
For Carrington, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Carrington faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Carrington grades B+ for hazard risk
Seismic risk and radon set Carrington’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. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Few fires near Carrington: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Carrington’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Carrington burns at 0.000% a year, low against 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Since 1986 the nearest fire to Carrington’s homes came within 14 km, never inside 5 km.
Little near Carrington’s homes can carry a forest fire; only 0% of the land within 5 km is forest fuel, and 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
Little or nothing burns around Carrington in a typical year; 386 of the 478 towns in Alberta share that, and Wainwright leads 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.
The low band holds 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, and Carrington 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 Carrington
Flood studies whose area touches Carrington, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
There is no study for Carrington on the national flood inventory, which is far from complete.
Towns with a flood study on file
No study touches Carrington; 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 studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Carrington.
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 Carrington $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.
Earthquake losses in Carrington, $0.023 per $1,000, are in line with the typical $0.030 (0.8 times).
Behind earthquake risk sits data gathered across the city of Calgary, with Carrington one part of it.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.023, Carrington 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.
Carrington sits mid-range among Canada’s 2,611 towns: 54% expect more shaking damage.
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).
What a quake does after the shaking, fire, landslides, tsunami, falls outside NRCan’s figure for Carrington.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
8.1% of homes tested around Carrington are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Measured across the Calgary Health Region: radon tests
Around Carrington, 8.1% of tested homes topped the guideline, near the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon around Carrington 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.
37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns share Carrington’s band of 5 to 10%; 26% sit higher.
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 Carrington’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 Carrington
Alerts for Carrington 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. |
Fire danger and active fires near Carrington are mapped daily by the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System; evacuation orders come from the municipality or province.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Carrington
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carrington | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Livingston 3,929 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Panorama Hills 25,494 · 2.4 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Evanston 21,483 · 2.4 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Coventry Hills 17,391 · 2.7 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Country Hills Village 2,731 · 3.0 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Country Hills 3,702 · 3.9 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
Nowhere around Carrington burns more: Livingston, the closest rival, is low to its low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Carrington faces
Practical steps for Carrington’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. For Carrington, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Carrington’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’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 Carrington.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Carrington is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Carrington
How is Carrington’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Carrington B+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is Carrington at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Carrington’s low band (0% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2017) is short of the level that counts.
Does Carrington flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Carrington, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
How big is the earthquake risk in Carrington?
About $0.023 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Carrington.
Is radon a problem in Carrington?
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 Carrington.
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).