Photo: Calgary Reviews from Calgary, Canada · CC BY 2.0Flood mapping exists for McKenzie Towne: 1 on record, latest by Government of Alberta
Around McKenzie Towne, wildfire is practically absent from the record: 0% within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. For earthquakes McKenzie Towne is middling, $0.023 a year per $1,000 against $0.030 for the typical town. About as many homes carry radon around McKenzie Towne as elsewhere, 8.1% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. McKenzie Towne grades B+ for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about McKenzie Towne’s hazards
For McKenzie Towne, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What McKenzie Towne 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 Towne: B+
Seismic risk and radon set McKenzie Towne’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: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Wildfire is rare near McKenzie Towne: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around McKenzie Towne’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Forty years of fire maps put McKenzie Towne at 0.000% a year, low next to the typical Canadian town’s 0.000%.
McKenzie Towne’s homes have had no fire within 5 km since 1986; the closest was 12 km away.
Only 0.6% of the land within 25 km of McKenzie Towne is forest fuel, and 0.1% close in.
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
Little or nothing burns around McKenzie Towne in a typical year; 386 of the 478 towns in Alberta share that, and Wainwright leads 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.
92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are in the low band and 7.5% above it; McKenzie Towne is among the many where the yearly burn rate rounds to zero.
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.
McKenzie Towne is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Government of Alberta
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for McKenzie Towne: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Government of Alberta holds the flood mapping that covers McKenzie Towne (2025), linked below.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bow and Elbow River Flood Study | Government of Alberta | 2025 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Alberta reaches 46% of towns, McKenzie Towne among them, below the 58% across Canada.
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 McKenzie Towne.
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 Towne $0.023 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
McKenzie Towne’s $0.023 is close to the typical town’s $0.030 (0.8 times as much).
McKenzie Towne 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
Earthquake risk in Alberta peaks in Black Diamond ($0.048); McKenzie Towne, at $0.023, sits above the median of $0.013.
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 McKenzie Towne (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).
For McKenzie Towne the model prices shaking damage to buildings, nothing more.
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 Towne 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: McKenzie Towne’s area 8.1%, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The typical town in Alberta has 7.5% over 200 Bq/m³; McKenzie Towne’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.
Between 5% and 10% of tests over the guideline: McKenzie Towne, and 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% are 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.
Neighbouring homes in McKenzie Towne can differ a lot; only a long-term test tells you about yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in McKenzie Towne
Alerts for McKenzie Towne 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. |
Fire danger and active fires near McKenzie Towne are mapped daily by the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System; evacuation orders come from the municipality or province.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around McKenzie Towne
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| McKenzie Towne | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| New Brighton 13,048 · 1.2 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| McKenzie Lake 11,966 · 1.5 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Copperfield 13,952 · 2.4 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Auburn Bay 18,296 · 2.7 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Deer Run 3,652 · 3.2 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Mahogany 17,818 · 3.6 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
Among its neighbours McKenzie Towne has the most fire on record (low); New Brighton follows (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what McKenzie Towne faces
Practical steps for McKenzie Towne’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?
- 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. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, McKenzie Towne takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. The flood inventory points to maps; it is incomplete and not the official source, so ask the municipality about any street in McKenzie Towne.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, McKenzie Towne’s included.
- Wildfire counts one way. Burned land within 25 km of where people live, averaged over 1986–2025 and checked for fuel near homes, is the measure; it looks back, not ahead, and only ever counts against McKenzie Towne.
Questions about flooding and hazards in McKenzie Towne
Is radon a problem in McKenzie Towne?
8.1% of the 86 homes Health Canada tested around McKenzie Towne topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How is McKenzie Towne’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
McKenzie Towne’s Hazard risk grade is B+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
How big is the earthquake risk in McKenzie Towne?
In NRCan’s seismic model, McKenzie Towne’s buildings lose $0.023 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Does McKenzie Towne flood?
The inventory lists a study touching McKenzie Towne; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
Is McKenzie Towne at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: McKenzie Towne’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2013), so wildfire doesn’t change its 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).