A flood study covers Parkland: 1 on the national inventory, the newest from Government of Alberta
No wildfire is mapped within 25 km of Parkland’s homes since 1986 (0% of the land, 0.000% a year). NRCan expects $0.023 of shaking damage a year per $1,000 of buildings in Parkland, near the typical $0.030. In Health Canada’s survey, 8.1% of homes tested in Parkland’s area exceeded 200 Bq/m³, close to the typical 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Parkland a grade of B+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Parkland’s hazards
For Parkland, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Parkland faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Parkland grades B+ for hazard risk
The grade weighs Parkland’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: 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 Parkland: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Parkland’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The yearly burn rate around Parkland is 0.000%, low beside 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Since 1986 the nearest fire to Parkland’s homes came within 7.7 km, never inside 5 km.
Only 0.9% of the land within 25 km of Parkland is forest fuel, and 0.7% 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
Of the 478 towns in Alberta, 386 have a burn rate that rounds to zero, Parkland among them; Wainwright leads at 1.43% a year.
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%), Parkland 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 Parkland, from Government of Alberta: 1 on the inventory
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Parkland: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
A 2025 study by Government of Alberta covers Parkland, 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
Parkland 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.
Nothing here counts toward Risk; the studies are pointers to the maps their owners keep for Parkland.
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 Parkland $0.023 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Earthquake losses in Parkland, $0.023 per $1,000, are in line with the typical $0.030 (0.8 times).
Parkland 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
Parkland’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.
Around half of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Parkland (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 Parkland 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 Parkland are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Radon tests for the Calgary Health Region
Near the middle for radon: Parkland’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; Parkland’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.
A middling share of high tests puts Parkland 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.
Whatever Parkland’s area share, the reading that matters is your own home’s, over a winter.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Parkland
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Parkland; 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 Parkland, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Parkland
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parkland | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Deer Ridge 4,454 · 1.1 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Deer Run 3,652 · 1.5 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Queensland 4,452 · 2.0 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Midnapore 7,022 · 2.1 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Sundance 9,043 · 2.5 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Lake Bonavista 11,154 · 2.7 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
Parkland’s low band tops its neighbours; Deer Ridge is next (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Parkland faces
What to do about the hazards Parkland 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
- 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 Parkland.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Parkland takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Parkland’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Wildfire counts one way. For Parkland, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Parkland
Is Parkland at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Parkland since 1986 (last in 2014); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Parkland?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Parkland’s buildings lose $0.023 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
How is Parkland’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Parkland’s Hazard risk grade is B+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Does Parkland flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Parkland; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
Is radon a problem in Parkland?
Around Parkland, 86 survey homes were tested and 8.1% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
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).