Photo: John Johnston · CC BY 2.0Flood mapping exists for Ramsay: 1 on record, latest by Government of Alberta
For Ramsay, wildfire history is close to nil: 0% of nearby land since 1986, 0.000% a year. Seismic risk in Ramsay sits near the middle: $0.023 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Radon is about average around Ramsay: 8.1% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Ramsay a grade of B+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Ramsay’s hazards
For Ramsay, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Ramsay faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Ramsay: B+
Earthquake risk and radon make Ramsay’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
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.
Few fires near Ramsay: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Ramsay’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
In a typical year 0.000% of the land near Ramsay burns; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%, and both are low.
Nothing inside 5 km of Ramsay’s homes has burned since 1986, and the nearest scar is 11 km off.
Land that isn’t forest covers nearly all the ground around Ramsay: forest fuel is 0% within 5 km and 1% 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
Near-zero burning puts Ramsay 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.
Most of the country’s 2,610 towns are low-band (92%, against 7.5% above); around Ramsay, burning 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.
A flood study covers Ramsay, from Government of Alberta: 1 on the inventory
Flood studies whose area touches Ramsay, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Government of Alberta studied flooding in an area that includes Ramsay (2025); open its map to see which streets lie in a flood zone.
| 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%; Ramsay is one of them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Ramsay floods.
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 Ramsay: $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 Ramsay’s ground: $0.023 against a typical $0.030, 0.8 times.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Ramsay’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.
Ramsay’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).
For Ramsay 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). · Area behind the earthquake risk figures: the city of Calgary
Radon about average around Ramsay: 8.1% over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
8.1% of tested homes around Ramsay were over the guideline, much like the typical Canadian town at 6.6%. For radon tests, the only official count covers all of the Calgary Health Region, Ramsay included.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon around Ramsay 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.
Radon tops the guideline in a modest share of homes around Ramsay, a band holding 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% rank above.
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 Ramsay 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 Ramsay
Alerts for Ramsay 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. |
Alert Ready carries evacuation orders for Ramsay to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Ramsay
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ramsay | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Downtown East Village 3,524 · 1.4 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Erlton 3,221 · 1.4 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Mission 6,329 · 1.8 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Inglewood 4,380 · 1.8 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Bridgeland/Riverside 6,860 · 2.2 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Beltline 26,171 · 2.4 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Ramsay (low); Downtown East Village comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Ramsay faces
Practical steps for Ramsay’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, Ramsay takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Ramsay, 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 Ramsay’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- 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 Ramsay.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Ramsay
How is Ramsay’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Ramsay grades B+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is Ramsay at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Ramsay’s low band (0% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2014) is short of the level that counts.
Is radon a problem in Ramsay?
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 Ramsay.
Does Ramsay flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Ramsay; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Ramsay?
About $0.023 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Ramsay.
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).