Hazards in Charleswood: wildfire low, radon over the guideline in 8.1% of tested homes
Around Charleswood, wildfire is practically absent from the record: 0% within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. Earthquake risk in Charleswood is ordinary: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.023 a year per $1,000 of value, close to the typical town’s $0.030. Hazard risk gives Charleswood a grade of B+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Charleswood’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Charleswood: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Charleswood faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Charleswood: B+
Earthquake risk and radon make Charleswood’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
Its place: #282 of 474 in Alberta and #1,102 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Wildfire is rare near Charleswood: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Charleswood’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Around Charleswood fire takes 0.000% of the land in a typical year, the typical Canadian town 0.000%, which is low.
No fire has burned within 5 km of Charleswood’s homes since 1986; the nearest burn is 7.0 km away.
Little near Charleswood’s homes can carry a forest fire; only 0% of the land within 5 km is forest fuel, and 0.9% 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
Among the 478 towns in Alberta, Wainwright burns fastest (1.43% a year); Charleswood is with the 386 near 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.
92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are in the low band and 7.5% above it; Charleswood 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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Charleswood
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Charleswood: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The inventory has nothing for Charleswood, but a local or conservation-authority map may still exist.
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Alberta reaches 46% of towns, below the 58% across Canada, and not Charleswood.
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 Charleswood’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.”
Earthquakes cost buildings in Charleswood $0.023 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Earthquake losses in Charleswood, $0.023 per $1,000, are in line with the typical $0.030 (0.8 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in Alberta peaks in Black Diamond ($0.048); Charleswood, 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.
Charleswood’s earthquake risk lands near the centre of Canada’s range; 54% of the 2,611 towns are higher.
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 Charleswood’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 published for the city of Calgary, not by town
Some radon around Charleswood: 8.1% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Shared with the rest of the Calgary Health Region: radon tests
Around Charleswood, 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
The typical town in Alberta has 7.5% over 200 Bq/m³; Charleswood’s area has 8.1%, much the same.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Between 5% and 10% of tests over the guideline: Charleswood, and 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% are 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.
One home in Charleswood 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 Charleswood
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Charleswood; 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. |
Smoke and fire warnings for Charleswood come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Charleswood
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charleswood | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Banff Trail 4,175 · 1.5 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Brentwood 7,369 · 1.6 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Capitol Hill 6,135 · 2.0 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| University Heights 4,031 · 2.4 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Mount Pleasant 9,224 · 2.8 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Thorncliffe 15,570 · 3.0 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
Among its neighbours Charleswood has the most fire on record (low); Banff Trail follows (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Charleswood faces
Practical steps for Charleswood’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. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Charleswood without grading them.
- 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 Charleswood’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Charleswood’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- Radon is a survey. Radon figures pool the survey’s home tests by area: postal areas once their boundaries arrive, the 2007 health region around Charleswood until then.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Charleswood
Is Charleswood at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Charleswood’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.
Does Charleswood flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Charleswood (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
How is Charleswood’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Charleswood B+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is radon a problem in Charleswood?
8.1% of the 86 homes Health Canada tested around Charleswood topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How big is the earthquake risk in Charleswood?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Charleswood’s buildings lose $0.023 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
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).