Photo: Qyd · CC BY 2.5A flood study covers Cityscape: 1 on the national inventory, the newest from Government of Alberta
The burned-area map is nearly blank around Cityscape, 0% within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. Shaking is about as much of a worry in Cityscape as in most places, at $0.023 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). About as many homes carry radon around Cityscape as elsewhere, 8.1% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Cityscape a grade of B+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Cityscape’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Cityscape: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Cityscape faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Cityscape grades B+ for hazard risk
The grade weighs Cityscape’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 Cityscape: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Past fire around Cityscape’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Cityscape burns at 0.000% a year, low against 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
The 5 km ring around Cityscape’s homes is clear of burns since 1986, the nearest 14 km out.
Forest fuel is scarce around Cityscape: 0% of the land within 5 km, 0.5% 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 Cityscape 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, Cityscape 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.
Government of Alberta has mapped flooding for Cityscape (1 study)
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Cityscape: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Government of Alberta holds the flood mapping that covers Cityscape (2012), linked below.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nose and West Nose Creek Flood Hazard Study | Government of Alberta | 2012 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 46% of towns in Alberta have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%; Cityscape is one of them.
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 Cityscape.
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.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Cityscape $0.023 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Cityscape’s $0.023 is close to the typical town’s $0.030 (0.8 times as much).
Nobody publishes earthquake risk for Cityscape alone, so this card uses the figure for the city of Calgary.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.023, Cityscape 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.
Cityscape 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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Cityscape’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).
Some radon around Cityscape: 8.1% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
The survey area of Cityscape reads 8.1%, a shade from the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. Figures for radon tests are published for the Calgary Health Region as a whole, not for Cityscape alone.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Cityscape, 8.1% of tests topped the guideline, about the same as the typical town in Alberta (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 Cityscape 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.
A survey sample isn’t a map: any home in Cityscape can be high, and a three-month test is the only way to know.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Cityscape
Alerts for Cityscape 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. |
Evacuation orders for Cityscape come from the municipality or the province, while CWFIS maps fire danger every day.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Cityscape
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cityscape | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Skyview Ranch 14,061 · 1.6 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Saddle Ridge 21,479 · 2.1 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Redstone 13,230 · 2.7 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Martindale 14,467 · 3.0 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Taradale 17,911 · 3.4 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Castleridge 6,127 · 4.3 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Cityscape (low); Skyview Ranch comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Cityscape faces
What to do about the hazards Cityscape 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
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Cityscape’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Cityscape’s figure is its subdivision’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 Cityscape.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Cityscape is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Cityscape
Is Cityscape at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0% of the land within 25 km of Cityscape has burned since 1986, the last in 2014, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
How is Cityscape’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Cityscape’s Hazard risk grade is B+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is radon a problem in Cityscape?
In Health Canada’s survey, 8.1% of 86 homes tested in Cityscape’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Does Cityscape flood?
There is flood mapping for Cityscape on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
How big is the earthquake risk in Cityscape?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Cityscape’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).