Wildfire low, radon 8.1%: how Citadel stands on hazards
The burned-area map is nearly blank around Citadel, 0% within 25 km since 1986, 0.001% a year. Shaking is about as much of a worry in Citadel as in most places, at $0.023 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Citadel grades B+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Citadel’s hazards
For Citadel, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Citadel faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Citadel: B+
Two inputs always count for Citadel, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
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.
Little of the land around Citadel has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Citadel’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
At 0.001% of the land a year, Citadel’s burn rate is in the low band; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
The 5 km ring around Citadel’s homes is clear of burns since 1986, the nearest 6.0 km out.
Only 0.9% of the land within 25 km of Citadel is forest fuel, and 0% 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
Citadel ranks 79th of the 478 towns in Alberta for burn rate, at 0.001% a year; Wainwright leads with 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.
Citadel is in the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns; 7.5% sit in moderate or 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 Citadel
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Citadel: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
No flood study on the national inventory covers Citadel; ask the municipality, which is the authority for its flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 46% of towns in Alberta have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%, and Citadel is not among them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Citadel’s homes are at risk.
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 Citadel $0.023 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
With $0.023 of shaking damage a year per $1,000, Citadel is about even with the typical $0.030 (0.8 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.023, Citadel 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.
Citadel’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).
What a quake does after the shaking, fire, landslides, tsunami, falls outside NRCan’s figure for Citadel.
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 Citadel are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Around Citadel, 8.1% of tested homes topped the guideline, near the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. For radon tests, the only official count covers all of the Calgary Health Region, Citadel included.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The typical town in Alberta has 7.5% over 200 Bq/m³; Citadel’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.
A middling share of high tests puts Citadel 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.
Health Canada advises testing every home, Citadel’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Citadel
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Citadel; 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 Citadel 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 Citadel
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Citadel | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Arbour Lake 10,454 · 1.9 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Hawkwood 9,188 · 2.0 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Hamptons 7,342 · 2.1 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Sherwood 6,537 · 2.5 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Ranchlands 7,376 · 3.0 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Royal Oak 12,343 · 3.0 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
Fire is no heavier anywhere nearby than around Citadel (low), with Arbour Lake next at low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Citadel faces
What to do about the hazards Citadel 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
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Citadel’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 Citadel.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Citadel, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Citadel is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Citadel
Does Citadel flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Citadel’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
How big is the earthquake risk in Citadel?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Citadel’s buildings lose $0.023 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is Citadel at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Citadel since 1986 (last in 2018); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
Is radon a problem in Citadel?
Around Citadel, 86 survey homes were tested and 8.1% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How is Citadel’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Citadel B+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
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).