Photo: Dwayne Reilander · CC BY-SA 4.0Calgary is on Canada’s flood inventory: 4 listed, led by Government of Alberta
Fire seldom reaches Calgary: since 1986, 0% of the land within 25 km has burned (0.001% a year). NRCan expects $0.023 of shaking damage a year per $1,000 of buildings in Calgary, near the typical $0.030. In Health Canada’s survey, 8.1% of homes tested in Calgary’s area exceeded 200 Bq/m³, close to the typical 6.6%.
What stands out about Calgary’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Calgary: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Calgary faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Calgary isn’t graded for hazard risk yet
Two inputs always count for Calgary, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
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.
Little of the land around Calgary has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Calgary’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Next to the typical Canadian town (0.000% a year), Calgary’s 0.001% is in the low band.
Only 2.9% of the land within 25 km of Calgary is forest fuel, and 0.7% 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 479
Calgary ranks 79th of the 479 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.
Beside 2,610 Canadian towns, Calgary reads low, with 92% of them; only 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.
Calgary is on the flood map inventory: 4 studies, latest by Government of Alberta
Flood studies whose area touches Calgary, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Government of Alberta and others have studied flooding in areas that include Calgary: 4 studies, the latest from 2025.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pine Creek Flood Hazard Study | Government of Alberta | 2025 | final |
| Bow and Elbow River Flood Study | Government of Alberta | 2025 | final |
| Upper Bow River Flood Study | Government of Alberta | 2024 | final |
| Nose and West Nose Creek Flood Hazard Study | Government of Alberta | 2012 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Its flood study sets Calgary apart in Alberta, where 46% of towns have one (Canada: 58%).
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
The 2020s brought the most flood studies for Calgary (3 of 4), the first dating from the 2010s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Calgary.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Calgary’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.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
Expected shaking damage in Calgary: $0.023 a year per $1,000
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Earthquake losses in Calgary, $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
Above the middle in Alberta: Calgary’s $0.023 against a median of $0.013, with Black Diamond highest 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.
Around half of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Calgary (54%).
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 loss is to Calgary’s buildings alone, from ground shaking; infrastructure and secondary hazards are left out.
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 Calgary 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
The survey area of Calgary reads 8.1%, a shade from the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon around Calgary 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.
26% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have more homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Calgary’s 5–10% band, which holds 37%.
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.
Basements, soil and how a house is sealed decide its radon, so in Calgary only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Calgary
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Calgary; 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 Calgary, 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 Calgary’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calgary | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Beltline 26,171 · 0.7 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Mission 6,329 · 0.9 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Downtown Commercial Core 9,286 · 1.1 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Eau Claire 3,733 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Downtown East Village 3,524 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Lower Mount Royal 3,136 · 1.5 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Calgary (low); Beltline comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Calgary faces
What to do about the hazards Calgary 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 Calgary’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; Calgary’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- 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 Calgary until then.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Calgary without grading them.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Calgary
Is Calgary at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Calgary since 1986 (last in 2021); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How is Calgary’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Not so far for Calgary; its Hazard risk letter waits for Canada’s grading run.
Is radon a problem in Calgary?
Around Calgary, 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 Calgary?
Expected earthquake damage in Calgary comes to $0.023 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Does Calgary flood?
A flood study covers Calgary 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).