Redstone’s hazards at a glance: a low wildfire record and 8.1% of area homes over the radon guideline
Since 1986 almost nothing has burned near Redstone: 0% of the land within 25 km, or 0.000% a year. Shaking is about as much of a worry in Redstone as in most places, at $0.023 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Redstone grades B+ for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Redstone’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Redstone: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Redstone faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Redstone: B+
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Redstone with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
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 Redstone: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Redstone’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Low by Canadian standards: 0.000% of the land a year around Redstone, 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
The 5 km ring around Redstone’s homes is clear of burns since 1986, the nearest 21 km out.
Little near Redstone’s homes can carry a forest fire; only 0% of the land within 5 km is forest fuel, and 0.1% 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
Fire has taken almost none of the land around Redstone, as for 386 of the 478 towns in Alberta; Wainwright tops the list 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.
Measured against 2,610 towns, Redstone is in the largest group, low (92%), and at its floor, while 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.
No flood study is listed for Redstone
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Redstone: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
No flood study on the national inventory covers Redstone; ask the municipality, which is the authority for its flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Alberta, 46% of towns against 58% nationally, and Redstone has none.
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 Redstone’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.”
Expected shaking damage in Redstone: $0.023 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
With $0.023 of shaking damage a year per $1,000, Redstone is about even with the typical $0.030 (0.8 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.023, Redstone 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.
Neither high nor low for Canada: 54% of the 2,611 towns expect more damage than Redstone.
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 Redstone’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). · Not measured by town: earthquake risk (the city of Calgary)
Some radon around Redstone: 8.1% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
At 8.1% over the guideline, the area around Redstone is about level with the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon around Redstone 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.
A middling share of high tests puts Redstone 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.
Basements, soil and how a house is sealed decide its radon, so in Redstone only a test can say.
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 Redstone
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Redstone; 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 Redstone, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Redstone
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Redstone | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Skyview Ranch 14,061 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Cityscape 11,782 · 2.7 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Saddle Ridge 21,479 · 4.0 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Taradale 17,911 · 5.3 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Martindale 14,467 · 5.6 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Castleridge 6,127 · 6.9 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
Redstone’s low band tops its neighbours; Skyview Ranch is next (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Redstone faces
What to do about the hazards Redstone 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
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Redstone’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. NRCan’s inventory says where flood mapping exists, not where water goes; the map’s owner is the authority for Redstone.
- 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 Redstone’s.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Redstone is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Redstone
How big is the earthquake risk in Redstone?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Redstone $0.023 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is Redstone at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0% of the land within 25 km of Redstone has burned since 1986, the last in 2014, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
Does Redstone flood?
Nothing is listed for Redstone on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
Is radon a problem in Redstone?
In Health Canada’s survey, 8.1% of 86 homes tested in Redstone’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
How is Redstone’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Redstone B+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
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).