Photo: jockrutherford from Owen Sound, ON · CC BY-SA 2.0McKenzie Lake is on Canada’s flood inventory: 1 listed, led by Government of Alberta
The national fire record shows next to nothing around McKenzie Lake, 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). For earthquakes McKenzie Lake is middling, $0.023 a year per $1,000 against $0.030 for the typical town. Radon is about average around McKenzie Lake: 8.1% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Hazard risk gives McKenzie Lake a grade of B+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about McKenzie Lake’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for McKenzie Lake: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What McKenzie Lake faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in McKenzie Lake: B+
The grade weighs McKenzie Lake’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 McKenzie Lake: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Past fire around McKenzie Lake’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
In a typical year 0.000% of the land near McKenzie Lake burns; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%, and both are low.
No fire has burned within 5 km of McKenzie Lake’s homes since 1986; the nearest burn is 11 km away.
Little near McKenzie Lake’s homes can carry a forest fire; only 0.3% of the land within 5 km is forest fuel, and 0.6% 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
To three decimals the burn rate around McKenzie Lake is zero, as for 386 of the 478 towns in Alberta, while Wainwright reaches 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%; McKenzie Lake, 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.
Government of Alberta has mapped flooding for McKenzie Lake (1 study)
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for McKenzie Lake: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Government of Alberta studied flooding in an area that includes McKenzie Lake (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
McKenzie Lake 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 McKenzie Lake 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 McKenzie Lake $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, McKenzie Lake’s earthquake risk is about the typical Canadian town’s ($0.030; 0.8 times).
For earthquake risk, the only official count covers all of the city of Calgary, McKenzie Lake included.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Alberta expects $0.013 a year; McKenzie Lake expects $0.023, and Black Diamond $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.
Middle of the pack: 54% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have more earthquake risk than McKenzie Lake.
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 McKenzie Lake’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).
8.1% of homes tested around McKenzie Lake are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
8.1% of tested homes around McKenzie Lake were over the guideline, much like the typical Canadian town at 6.6%. McKenzie Lake shares its radon tests numbers with the rest of the Calgary Health Region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The typical town in Alberta has 7.5% over 200 Bq/m³; McKenzie Lake’s area has 8.1%, much the same.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
McKenzie Lake is in the 5–10% band with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% have more.
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.
The survey sampled homes around McKenzie Lake; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for McKenzie Lake
Alerts for McKenzie Lake 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 McKenzie Lake 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 McKenzie Lake
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| McKenzie Lake | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| McKenzie Towne 17,757 · 1.5 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Deer Run 3,652 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Deer Ridge 4,454 · 2.4 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| New Brighton 13,048 · 2.6 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Parkland 3,652 · 3.2 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Douglasdale/Glen 13,333 · 3.4 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
McKenzie Lake’s low band tops its neighbours; McKenzie Towne is next (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what McKenzie Lake faces
What to do about the hazards McKenzie Lake 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; McKenzie Lake’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- 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 McKenzie Lake 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 McKenzie Lake floods.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around McKenzie Lake’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
Questions about flooding and hazards in McKenzie Lake
Does McKenzie Lake flood?
McKenzie Lake’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
How is McKenzie Lake’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
McKenzie Lake grades B+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is radon a problem in McKenzie Lake?
Around McKenzie Lake, 86 survey homes were tested and 8.1% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How big is the earthquake risk in McKenzie Lake?
In NRCan’s seismic model, McKenzie Lake’s buildings lose $0.023 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is McKenzie Lake at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around McKenzie Lake since 1986 (last in 2014); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
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).