Wildfire low, radon 8.1%: how Garrison Woods stands on hazards
Fire has left almost no mark near Garrison Woods: 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. Seismic risk in Garrison Woods sits near the middle: $0.023 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Garrison Woods grades B+ for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Garrison Woods’s hazards
For Garrison Woods, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Garrison Woods faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Garrison Woods: B+
For Garrison Woods, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
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 Garrison Woods: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Garrison Woods’ residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Low: the land around Garrison Woods burns at 0.000% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
No fire has burned within 5 km of Garrison Woods’ homes since 1986; the nearest burn is 10 km away.
Forest makes up 0.4% of the land within 5 km of Garrison Woods and 1.7% within 25 km, little for a forest fire to run through.
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
Wainwright has the highest burn rate in Alberta, 1.43% a year; around Garrison Woods, as around 386 of the 478 towns, it rounds to 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.
Only 7.5% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are above the low band, which holds 92%; Garrison Woods, at a rounded zero, is far from them.
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 Garrison Woods
Flood studies whose area touches Garrison Woods, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
An empty entry for Garrison Woods on the inventory isn’t proof of safety; ask locally for flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
No study touches Garrison Woods; 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.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Garrison Woods’ 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.”
Ordinary seismic risk in Garrison Woods: $0.023 per $1,000 of buildings a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Nothing unusual about Garrison Woods’ ground: $0.023 against a typical $0.030, 0.8 times.
Garrison Woods doesn’t get its own earthquake risk figures; the ones here come from the city of Calgary.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.023, Garrison Woods 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.
Garrison Woods 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).
For Garrison Woods the model prices shaking damage to buildings, nothing more.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Radon about average around Garrison Woods: 8.1% over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Garrison Woods’ area sits close to the typical Canadian town: 8.1% over the guideline, against 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon around Garrison Woods 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.
Between 5% and 10% of tests over the guideline: Garrison Woods, 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.
Radon varies from house to house in Garrison Woods, so the survey is a reason to test, not a result for yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests: one figure for all of the Calgary Health Region
Where to get warnings in Garrison Woods
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Garrison Woods; 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. |
For fires near Garrison Woods, the national fire information system maps danger and active fires daily; local authorities give any evacuation order.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Garrison Woods’ neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Garrison Woods | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Altadore 7,675 · 0.7 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Richmond 4,811 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| South Calgary 4,412 · 1.4 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Currie Barracks 7,342 · 1.5 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Killarney/Glengarry 7,935 · 2.0 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Bankview 5,610 · 2.2 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Garrison Woods (low); Altadore comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Garrison Woods faces
Practical steps for Garrison Woods’ 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
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Garrison Woods takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Garrison Woods, 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 Garrison Woods’ census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. The flood inventory points to maps; it is incomplete and not the official source, so ask the municipality about any street in Garrison Woods.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Garrison Woods
Is radon a problem in Garrison Woods?
8.1% of the 86 homes Health Canada tested around Garrison Woods topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
Is Garrison Woods at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Garrison Woods’ 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 Garrison Woods flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Garrison Woods (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
How is Garrison Woods’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Garrison Woods’ Hazard risk grade is B+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
How big is the earthquake risk in Garrison Woods?
Expected earthquake damage in Garrison Woods comes to $0.023 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
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).