Photo: Tiado · CC BY-SA 3.0Macewan Glen’s hazards at a glance: a low wildfire record and 8.1% of area homes over the radon guideline
For Macewan Glen, 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 Macewan Glen, near the typical $0.030. Hazard risk gives Macewan Glen a grade of B+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Macewan Glen’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Macewan Glen: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Macewan Glen faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Macewan Glen grades B+ for hazard risk
Earthquake risk and radon make Macewan Glen’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
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. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Wildfire is rare near Macewan Glen: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Macewan Glen’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Around Macewan Glen fire takes 0.000% of the land in a typical year, the typical Canadian town 0.000%, which is low.
Since 1986 the nearest fire to Macewan Glen’s homes came within 8.4 km, never inside 5 km.
Around Macewan Glen the forest is thin or far off: 0% of the land within 5 km and 0.8% within 25 km is forest fuel.
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 Macewan Glen, 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%; Macewan Glen, 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 Macewan Glen
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Macewan Glen: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
No flood study on the national inventory covers Macewan Glen; ask the municipality, which is the authority for its flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Alberta reaches 46% of towns, below the 58% across Canada, and not Macewan Glen.
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 Macewan Glen.
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.”
Earthquakes cost buildings in Macewan Glen $0.023 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.023 per $1,000, Macewan Glen’s earthquake risk is about the typical Canadian town’s ($0.030; 0.8 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Macewan Glen’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.
Around half of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Macewan Glen (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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Macewan Glen’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). · Not measured by town: earthquake risk (the city of Calgary)
Some radon around Macewan Glen: 8.1% of area homes over the 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
Macewan Glen’s 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 Macewan Glen 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.
37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns share Macewan Glen’s band of 5 to 10%; 26% sit 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.
One home in Macewan Glen 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 Macewan Glen
Alerts for Macewan Glen 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 Macewan Glen to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Macewan Glen
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Macewan Glen | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Sandstone Valley 5,816 · 1.1 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Hidden Valley 10,614 · 1.2 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Edgemont 15,359 · 2.2 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Hamptons 7,342 · 2.6 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Beddington Heights 11,333 · 2.7 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Country Hills 3,702 · 2.9 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
Sandstone Valley (low) has the heaviest fire record of Macewan Glen’s neighbours, and Macewan Glen (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Macewan Glen faces
Practical steps for Macewan Glen’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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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 Macewan Glen.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Macewan Glen’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Macewan Glen’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Macewan Glen is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Macewan Glen
Is Macewan Glen at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Macewan Glen’s low band (0% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2014) is short of the level that counts.
Does Macewan Glen flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Macewan Glen, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
How is Macewan Glen’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Macewan Glen B+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
How big is the earthquake risk in Macewan Glen?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Macewan Glen $0.023 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is radon a problem in Macewan Glen?
The area’s survey found 8.1% of 86 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Macewan Glen.
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).