Photo: under_volcano from Canada · CC BY-SA 2.0Oakridge is on Canada’s flood inventory: 1 listed, led by Government of Alberta
Wildfire is rare near Oakridge: 0% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, a burn rate of 0.000% a year. Seismic risk in Oakridge sits near the middle: $0.023 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Oakridge’s survey area, 8.1% over the radon guideline, is close to the typical town’s 6.6%. Oakridge grades B+ for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Oakridge’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Oakridge: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Oakridge faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Oakridge: B+
For Oakridge, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
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. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Wildfire is rare near Oakridge: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0.2% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Oakridge’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Forty years of fire maps put Oakridge at 0.000% a year, low next to the typical Canadian town’s 0.000%.
Around Oakridge the forest is thin or far off: 2.4% of the land within 5 km and 3% within 25 km is forest fuel.
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
Near-zero burning puts Oakridge with 386 of the 478 towns in Alberta, far below Wainwright 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.
Oakridge shares the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, its burn rate rounding to nothing; 7.5% burn faster.
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 Oakridge (1 study)
Flood studies whose area touches Oakridge, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
The flood study touching Oakridge is Government of Alberta’s, dated 2025; its own map shows the zones street by street.
| 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%; Oakridge is one of them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Nothing here counts toward Risk; the studies are pointers to the maps their owners keep for Oakridge.
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 Oakridge $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.
At $0.023 per $1,000, Oakridge’s earthquake risk is about the typical Canadian town’s ($0.030; 0.8 times).
Oakridge shares its earthquake risk numbers with the rest of the city of Calgary.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Oakridge’s $0.023 tops the median in Alberta, $0.013, though Black Diamond reaches $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.
Oakridge sits mid-range among Canada’s 2,611 towns: 54% expect more shaking damage.
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 Oakridge’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).
Radon about average around Oakridge: 8.1% over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
The survey area of Oakridge reads 8.1%, a shade from the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The typical town in Alberta has 7.5% over 200 Bq/m³; Oakridge’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: Oakridge, 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.
The share describes the area, not a house: in Oakridge as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests: one figure for all of the Calgary Health Region
Weather and fire alerts for Oakridge
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Oakridge; 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 Oakridge, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Oakridge
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oakridge | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Cedarbrae 5,943 · 1.4 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Palliser 4,987 · 1.4 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Braeside 5,706 · 2.2 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Woodbine 8,075 · 3.0 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Woodlands 5,391 · 3.1 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Haysboro 7,222 · 3.4 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
Oakridge’s low band tops its neighbours; Cedarbrae is next (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Oakridge faces
Practical steps for Oakridge’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
- 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 Oakridge.
- 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 Oakridge’s.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Oakridge takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Oakridge’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 Oakridge
Is Oakridge at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Oakridge’s low band (0% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2014) is short of the level that counts.
Does Oakridge flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Oakridge; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
Is radon a problem in Oakridge?
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 Oakridge.
How is Oakridge’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Oakridge’s Hazard risk grade is B+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
How big is the earthquake risk in Oakridge?
About $0.023 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Oakridge.
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).