Photo: Markus Säynevirta · CC BY-SA 4.0A flood study covers Fairview: 1 on the national inventory, the newest from Government of Alberta
For Fairview, wildfire history is close to nil: 0% of nearby land since 1986, 0.000% a year. NRCan expects $0.023 of shaking damage a year per $1,000 of buildings in Fairview, near the typical $0.030. Radon around Fairview is ordinary for Canada: 8.1% of tested homes over the guideline (6.6% typical). Hazard risk gives Fairview a grade of B+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Fairview’s hazards
For Fairview, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Fairview faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Fairview grades B+ for hazard risk
The grade weighs Fairview’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: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Little of the land around Fairview has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Fairview’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
A burn rate of 0.000% a year keeps Fairview in the low band (the typical Canadian town: 0.000%).
The closest burn since 1986 lies 8.5 km from Fairview’s homes, none within 5 km.
Little near Fairview’s homes can carry a forest fire; only 0% of the land within 5 km is forest fuel, and 1.1% 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
To three decimals the burn rate around Fairview is zero, as for 386 of the 478 towns in Alberta, while Wainwright reaches 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.
Fairview shares the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, its burn rate rounding to nothing; 7.5% burn faster.
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.
A flood study covers Fairview, from Government of Alberta: 1 on the inventory
Flood studies whose area touches Fairview, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Government of Alberta studied flooding in an area that includes Fairview (2025); open its map to see which streets lie in a flood zone.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bow and Elbow River Flood Study | Government of Alberta | 2025 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Alberta, 46% of towns against 58% nationally, but Fairview has one.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood mapping is shown for Fairview to be opened and checked, never turned into a grade.
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 Fairview $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.
At $0.023 per $1,000, Fairview’s earthquake risk is about the typical Canadian town’s ($0.030; 0.8 times).
For earthquake risk, the only official count covers all of the city of Calgary, Fairview included.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Fairview’s $0.023 tops the median in Alberta, $0.013, though Black Diamond reaches $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.
Fairview’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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in Fairview is counted; landslides, liquefaction, tsunami and fire after a quake aren’t.
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 Fairview 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
Near the middle for radon: Fairview’s area 8.1%, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The typical town in Alberta has 7.5% over 200 Bq/m³; Fairview’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 Fairview 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 low area share in Fairview doesn’t clear a house, nor does a high one condemn it: test.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Fairview
Alerts for Fairview 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 Fairview 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)
How Fairview’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fairview | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Acadia 9,950 · 1.0 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Kingsland 4,700 · 1.2 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Haysboro 7,222 · 1.8 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Willow Park 6,891 · 2.5 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Windsor Park 7,863 · 2.7 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Riverbend 9,193 · 3.3 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
Acadia (low) has the heaviest fire record of Fairview’s neighbours, and Fairview (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Fairview faces
What to do about the hazards Fairview 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
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Fairview without grading them.
- 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 Fairview until then.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Fairview, 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 Fairview’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
Questions about flooding and hazards in Fairview
Is Fairview at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Fairview since 1986 (last in 2014); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How is Fairview’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Fairview B+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is radon a problem in Fairview?
Around Fairview, 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 big is the earthquake risk in Fairview?
Expected earthquake damage in Fairview comes to $0.023 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Does Fairview flood?
A flood study covers Fairview on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
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).