Photo: Robert Thivierge ( User:Thivierr ) · CC BY-SA 3.0Mission is on Canada’s flood inventory: 1 listed, led by Government of Alberta
Wildfire barely registers for Mission, at 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). Shaking is about as much of a worry in Mission as in most places, at $0.023 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). About as many homes carry radon around Mission as elsewhere, 8.1% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Mission grades B+ for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Mission’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Mission: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Mission faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Mission grades B+ for hazard risk
The grade weighs Mission’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.
Wildfire is rare near Mission: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Mission’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Fire claims 0.000% of the land around Mission each year, a low band, with the typical Canadian town at 0.000%.
No fire has burned within 5 km of Mission’s homes since 1986; the nearest burn is 12 km away.
With 0% forest fuel within 5 km and 0.9% within 25 km, the land around Mission gives a fire little to burn.
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 Mission 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.
Like most of Canada’s 2,610 towns (92%), Mission 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.
A flood study covers Mission, from Government of Alberta: 1 on the inventory
Flood studies whose area touches Mission, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
A 2025 study by Government of Alberta covers Mission, and its map, not the inventory, shows the zones.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bow and Elbow River Flood Study | Government of Alberta | 2025 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 46% of towns in Alberta have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%; Mission is one of them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Mission’s homes are at risk.
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.
Ordinary seismic risk in Mission: $0.023 per $1,000 of buildings a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Nothing unusual about Mission’s ground: $0.023 against a typical $0.030, 0.8 times.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Alberta expects $0.013 a year; Mission 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.
Mission’s earthquake risk lands near the centre of Canada’s range; 54% of the 2,611 towns are higher.
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 loss is to Mission’s buildings alone, from ground shaking; infrastructure and secondary hazards are left out.
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 Mission are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Mission’s area sits close to the typical Canadian town: 8.1% over the guideline, against 6.6%. For radon tests, the only official count covers all of the Calgary Health Region, Mission included.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon around Mission 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.
26% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have more homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Mission’s 5–10% band, which holds 37%.
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 Mission only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Mission
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Mission; 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. |
For fires near Mission, the national fire information system maps danger and active fires daily; local authorities give any evacuation order.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Mission
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mission | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Erlton 3,221 · 1.0 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Beltline 26,171 · 1.0 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Upper Mount Royal 2,758 · 1.1 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Lower Mount Royal 3,136 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Elbow Park 4,120 · 1.5 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Ramsay 3,601 · 1.8 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
The neighbour with the most fire is Erlton (low), still no more than Mission (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Mission faces
What to do about the hazards Mission 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
- Radon is a survey. Radon figures pool the survey’s home tests by area: postal areas once their boundaries arrive, the 2007 health region around Mission until then.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Shaking damage is modelled from the ground, the buildings and the odds of each quake, and published for whole subdivisions such as Mission’s.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Mission without grading them.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Mission’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Mission
Does Mission flood?
A flood study covers Mission on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
How is Mission’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Mission’s Hazard risk grade is B+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is radon a problem in Mission?
Around Mission, 86 survey homes were tested and 8.1% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Is Mission at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Mission since 1986 (last in 2014); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Mission?
Expected earthquake damage in Mission comes to $0.023 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
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).