Photo: Gabriil Yanofsky · CC BY 4.0Flood mapping exists for Highland Park: 1 on record, latest by Government of Alberta
For Highland Park, 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 Highland Park, near the typical $0.030. About as many homes carry radon around Highland Park as elsewhere, 8.1% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Highland Park grades B+ for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Highland Park’s hazards
For Highland Park, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Highland Park faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Highland Park: B+
For Highland Park, 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 Highland Park: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Highland Park’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
The yearly burn rate around Highland Park is 0.000%, low beside 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
The 5 km ring around Highland Park’s homes is clear of burns since 1986, the nearest 11 km out.
Little near Highland Park’s homes can carry a forest fire; only 0% of the land within 5 km is forest fuel, and 0.7% 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
Little or nothing burns around Highland Park in a typical year; 386 of the 478 towns in Alberta share that, and Wainwright leads 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.
Only 7.5% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are above the low band, which holds 92%; Highland Park, 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.
Highland Park is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Government of Alberta
Flood studies whose area touches Highland Park, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
For Highland Park the inventory points to Government of Alberta’s 2012 study, whose map is the one to check.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nose and West Nose Creek Flood Hazard Study | Government of Alberta | 2012 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Highland Park is one of the 46% of towns in Alberta with a flood study on file, fewer than Canada’s 58%.
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 Highland Park 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 Highland Park $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.
Nothing unusual about Highland Park’s ground: $0.023 against a typical $0.030, 0.8 times.
Nobody publishes earthquake risk for Highland Park alone, so this card uses the figure for the city of Calgary.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Above the middle in Alberta: Highland Park’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 Highland Park (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).
For Highland Park 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 Highland Park: 8.1% over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
At 8.1% over the guideline, the area around Highland Park is about level with the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. For radon tests, the only official count covers all of the Calgary Health Region, Highland Park included.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Highland Park, 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.
Between 5% and 10% of tests over the guideline: Highland Park, 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.
Whatever Highland Park’s area share, the reading that matters is your own home’s, over a winter.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Highland Park
Alerts for Highland Park 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. |
Alert Ready carries evacuation orders for Highland Park to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Highland Park’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Highland Park | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Mount Pleasant 9,224 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Tuxedo Park 4,082 · 1.4 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Winston Heights/Mountview 4,361 · 1.5 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Thorncliffe 15,570 · 1.8 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Capitol Hill 6,135 · 2.9 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Renfrew 6,685 · 3.0 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
Mount Pleasant (low) has the heaviest fire record of Highland Park’s neighbours, and Highland Park (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Highland Park faces
Practical steps for Highland Park’s 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?
- 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. Burned land within 25 km of where people live, averaged over 1986–2025 and checked for fuel near homes, is the measure; it looks back, not ahead, and only ever counts against Highland Park.
- 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 Highland Park.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Highland Park’s included.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Highland Park is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Highland Park
Does Highland Park flood?
There is flood mapping for Highland Park on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
How big is the earthquake risk in Highland Park?
About $0.023 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Highland Park.
Is Highland Park at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Highland Park’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2014), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
How is Highland Park’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Highland Park B+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is radon a problem in Highland Park?
8.1% of the 86 homes Health Canada tested around Highland Park topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
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).