Wildfire low, radon 8.1%: how Marlborough Park stands on hazards
The national fire record shows next to nothing around Marlborough Park, 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). For earthquakes Marlborough Park is middling, $0.023 a year per $1,000 against $0.030 for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Marlborough Park a grade of B+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Marlborough Park’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Marlborough Park: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Marlborough Park faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Marlborough Park grades B+ for hazard risk
Seismic risk and radon set Marlborough Park’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of 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. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Little of the land around Marlborough Park has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Marlborough Park’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
With 0.000% burned a year, Marlborough Park is among the many low-band places (the typical Canadian town 0.000%).
Nothing inside 5 km of Marlborough Park’s homes has burned since 1986, and the nearest scar is 19 km off.
Forest fuel is scarce around Marlborough Park: 0% of the land within 5 km, 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
Fire has taken almost none of the land around Marlborough Park, 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.
Like most of Canada’s 2,610 towns (92%), Marlborough Park is in the low band, with a burn rate of zero to three decimals; 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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Marlborough Park
Flood studies whose area touches Marlborough Park, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
NRCan’s inventory is silent on Marlborough Park, so any flood map would be the municipality’s own.
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Alberta reaches 46% of towns, below the 58% across Canada, and not Marlborough Park.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Marlborough Park’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.”
Earthquakes cost buildings in Marlborough 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.
Marlborough Park’s $0.023 is close to the typical town’s $0.030 (0.8 times as much).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.023, Marlborough Park is above the typical town in Alberta ($0.013); Black Diamond has the most 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 Marlborough 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).
The model counts damage to Marlborough Park’s buildings and their occupants from shaking only: not liquefaction, landslides, tsunami or fires after a quake.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean). · Earthquake risk: one figure for all of the city of Calgary
8.1% of homes tested around Marlborough Park 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
Near the middle for radon: Marlborough Park’s area 8.1%, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon around Marlborough Park 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.
Radon tops the guideline in a modest share of homes around Marlborough Park, a band holding 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% rank above.
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 Marlborough Park only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Marlborough Park
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Marlborough Park; 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 Marlborough Park, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Marlborough Park
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marlborough Park | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Marlborough 8,932 · 1.5 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Pineridge 10,062 · 1.6 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Abbeydale 6,561 · 1.6 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Forest Heights 6,120 · 2.0 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Penbrooke Meadows 10,001 · 2.0 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Applewood Park 6,835 · 2.2 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
Nowhere around Marlborough Park burns more: Marlborough, the closest rival, is low to its low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Marlborough Park faces
Practical steps for Marlborough 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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- 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; Marlborough Park’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Marlborough Park’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Radon is a survey. The radon share comes from about 14,000 long-term home tests in 2009–2011, pooled for now by the 2007 health region Marlborough Park sits in.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. A study’s area can be a whole watershed or province, so being on the inventory says a map exists, not that a home in Marlborough Park floods.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Marlborough Park
How big is the earthquake risk in Marlborough Park?
About $0.023 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Marlborough Park.
Is radon a problem in Marlborough Park?
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 Marlborough Park.
Is Marlborough Park at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Marlborough Park’s low band (0% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2014) is short of the level that counts.
How is Marlborough Park’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Marlborough Park B+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Does Marlborough Park flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Marlborough Park, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
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).