Photo: Tanya Dmitriev · CC BY-SA 3.0Wildfire low, radon 8.1%: how Millrise stands on hazards
Little of the land around Millrise has burned: 0% within 25 km since 1986, or 0.000% a year. NRCan expects $0.023 of shaking damage a year per $1,000 of buildings in Millrise, near the typical $0.030. Millrise grades B+ for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Millrise’s hazards
For Millrise, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Millrise faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Millrise grades B+ for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Millrise, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
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.
Wildfire is rare near Millrise: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0.2% within 5 km
Past fire around Millrise’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The land within 25 km of Millrise burns at 0.000% a year on average, the low band; the typical Canadian town: 0.000%.
Land that isn’t forest covers nearly all the ground around Millrise: forest fuel is 2.1% within 5 km and 2.4% 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 Millrise 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.
Like most of Canada’s 2,610 towns (92%), Millrise 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 Millrise
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Millrise: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists no study whose area touches Millrise, which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped.
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Alberta reaches 46% of towns, below the 58% across Canada, and not Millrise.
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 Millrise’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.”
Ordinary seismic risk in Millrise: $0.023 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Earthquake losses in Millrise, $0.023 per $1,000, are in line with the typical $0.030 (0.8 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.023, Millrise 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 Millrise (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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in Millrise 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). · Area behind the earthquake risk figures: the city of Calgary
8.1% of homes tested around Millrise are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Source area for radon tests: the Calgary Health Region
Millrise’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
Around Millrise, 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 Millrise 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.
Health Canada advises testing every home, Millrise’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Millrise
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Millrise; 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 Millrise, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Millrise
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Millrise | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Fish Creek Park 9,045 · 0.5 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Shawnessy 9,696 · 1.5 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Midnapore 7,022 · 1.9 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Evergreen 19,988 · 2.0 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Somerset 8,416 · 2.4 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Canyon Meadows 6,751 · 2.7 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
Evergreen burns a little more than Millrise, in the same low band (low here).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Millrise faces
What to do about the hazards Millrise 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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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 Millrise sits in.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Millrise, 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 Millrise’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- 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 Millrise floods.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Millrise
How is Millrise’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Millrise’s Hazard risk grade is B+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is radon a problem in Millrise?
In Health Canada’s survey, 8.1% of 86 homes tested in Millrise’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Is Millrise at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0% of the land within 25 km of Millrise has burned since 1986, the last in 2014, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
How big is the earthquake risk in Millrise?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Millrise’s buildings lose $0.023 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Does Millrise flood?
Nothing is listed for Millrise on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
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).