Photo: Thivierr · CC BY-SA 3.0A flood study covers Hillhurst: 1 on the national inventory, the newest from Government of Alberta
Since 1986 almost nothing has burned near Hillhurst: 0% of the land within 25 km, or 0.000% a year. Shaking is about as much of a worry in Hillhurst as in most places, at $0.023 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Radon around Hillhurst is ordinary for Canada: 8.1% of tested homes over the guideline (6.6% typical). Hazard risk gives Hillhurst a grade of B+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Hillhurst’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Hillhurst: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Hillhurst faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Hillhurst: B+
The grade weighs Hillhurst’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. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Few fires near Hillhurst: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Hillhurst’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
In a typical year 0.000% of the land near Hillhurst burns; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%, and both are low.
The 5 km ring around Hillhurst’s homes is clear of burns since 1986, the nearest 8.4 km out.
Forest fuel is scarce around Hillhurst: 0% of the land within 5 km, 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
Fire has taken almost none of the land around Hillhurst, as for 386 of the 478 towns in Alberta; Wainwright tops the list 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, Hillhurst 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.
A flood study covers Hillhurst, from Government of Alberta: 1 on the inventory
Flood studies whose area touches Hillhurst, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Government of Alberta studied flooding in an area that includes Hillhurst (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
Its flood study sets Hillhurst 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.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Hillhurst.
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.
Ordinary seismic risk in Hillhurst: $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.
Earthquake losses in Hillhurst, $0.023 per $1,000, are in line with the typical $0.030 (0.8 times).
Behind earthquake risk sits data gathered across the city of Calgary, with Hillhurst one part of it.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Hillhurst’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.
Hillhurst 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 Hillhurst’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 Hillhurst: 8.1% of area homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Hillhurst’s area sits close to the typical Canadian town: 8.1% over the guideline, against 6.6%. Nobody publishes radon tests for Hillhurst alone, so this card uses the figure for the Calgary Health Region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Hillhurst, 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.
26% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have more homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Hillhurst’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.
One home in Hillhurst can be high while next door is low; a three-month test settles it.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Hillhurst
Alerts for Hillhurst 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 Hillhurst to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Hillhurst’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hillhurst | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Downtown West End 2,796 · 1.1 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Rosedale 2,507 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Sunnyside 2,976 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Downtown Commercial Core 9,286 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Sunalta 4,151 · 1.8 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Capitol Hill 6,135 · 1.9 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Hillhurst (low); Downtown West End comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Hillhurst faces
What to do about the hazards Hillhurst 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
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Hillhurst’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Hillhurst without grading them.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Hillhurst’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- 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 Hillhurst until then.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Hillhurst
Is Hillhurst at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Hillhurst since 1986 (last in 2014); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Hillhurst?
About $0.023 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Hillhurst.
How is Hillhurst’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Hillhurst B+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Does Hillhurst flood?
A flood study covers Hillhurst on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
Is radon a problem in Hillhurst?
Around Hillhurst, 86 survey homes were tested and 8.1% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
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).