Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domainFlood mapping exists for Livingston: 1 on record, latest by Government of Alberta
The national fire record shows next to nothing around Livingston, 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). Shaking is about as much of a worry in Livingston as in most places, at $0.023 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Radon around Livingston is ordinary for Canada: 8.1% of tested homes over the guideline (6.6% typical). Hazard risk gives Livingston a grade of B+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Livingston’s hazards
For Livingston, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Livingston faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Livingston: B+
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Livingston with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
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.
Few fires near Livingston: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Past fire around Livingston’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Next to the typical Canadian town (0.000% a year), Livingston’s 0.000% is in the low band.
Since 1986 the nearest fire to Livingston’s homes came within 11 km, never inside 5 km.
Land that isn’t forest covers nearly all the ground around Livingston: forest fuel is 0.2% within 5 km and 0.5% 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
Wainwright has the highest burn rate in Alberta, 1.43% a year; around Livingston, 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.
The low band holds 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, and Livingston sits at its very bottom; only 7.5% are above it.
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.
Government of Alberta has mapped flooding for Livingston (1 study)
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Livingston: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
One study on the inventory touches Livingston, Government of Alberta’s from 2012, and its area can be large, so it says a map exists, not that the town floods.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nose and West Nose Creek Flood Hazard Study | Government of Alberta | 2012 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Livingston 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.
Nothing here counts toward Risk; the studies are pointers to the maps their owners keep for Livingston.
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 Livingston $0.023 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Nothing unusual about Livingston’s ground: $0.023 against a typical $0.030, 0.8 times.
Livingston 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
Above the middle in Alberta: Livingston’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.
Livingston 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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in Livingston 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 Livingston are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Shared with the rest of the Calgary Health Region: radon tests
Near the middle for radon: Livingston’s area 8.1%, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Livingston, 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.
A middling share of high tests puts Livingston 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.
Radon varies from house to house in Livingston, 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).
Where to get warnings in Livingston
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Livingston; 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. |
In fire season, check CWFIS for danger and active fires around Livingston, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Livingston’s neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Livingston | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Carrington 2,920 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Coventry Hills 17,391 · 2.5 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Country Hills Village 2,731 · 3.1 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Panorama Hills 25,494 · 3.3 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Evanston 21,483 · 3.7 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Harvest Hills 7,930 · 4.5 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
Carrington (low) has the heaviest fire record of Livingston’s neighbours, and Livingston (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Livingston faces
What to do about the hazards Livingston 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
- 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 Livingston until then.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Livingston, 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 Livingston’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Livingston without grading them.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Livingston
Does Livingston flood?
A flood study covers Livingston 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 Livingston?
In Health Canada’s survey, 8.1% of 86 homes tested in Livingston’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Is Livingston at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0% of the land within 25 km of Livingston has burned since 1986, the last in 2018, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
How is Livingston’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Livingston’s Hazard risk grade is B+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
How big is the earthquake risk in Livingston?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Livingston’s buildings lose $0.023 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
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).