Photo: Benlarhome · CC BY-SA 4.0A flood study covers Renfrew: 2 on the national inventory, the newest from Government of Alberta
Since 1986 almost nothing has burned near Renfrew: 0% of the land within 25 km, or 0.000% a year. Shaking is about as much of a worry in Renfrew as in most places, at $0.023 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Radon is about average around Renfrew: 8.1% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Renfrew a grade of B+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Renfrew’s hazards
For Renfrew, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Renfrew faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Renfrew grades B+ for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Renfrew 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. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Little of the land around Renfrew has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Renfrew’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The yearly burn rate around Renfrew is 0.000%, low beside 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Fire has stayed at least 12 km from Renfrew’s homes since 1986.
With 0% forest fuel within 5 km and 0.7% within 25 km, the land around Renfrew 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
To three decimals the burn rate around Renfrew is zero, as for 386 of the 478 towns in Alberta, while Wainwright reaches 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%), Renfrew 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.
2 flood studies cover Renfrew, the newest from Government of Alberta
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Renfrew: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The newest of 2 studies covering Renfrew is Government of Alberta’s, from 2025; open its map to see the zones.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bow and Elbow River Flood Study | Government of Alberta | 2025 | final |
| Nose and West Nose Creek Flood Hazard Study | Government of Alberta | 2012 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 46% of towns in Alberta have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%; Renfrew is one of them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
No single decade dominates: 2 studies for Renfrew between the 2010s and the 2020s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Renfrew.
Flood mapping is shown for Renfrew to be opened and checked, never turned into a grade.
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 Renfrew $0.023 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Earthquake losses in Renfrew, $0.023 per $1,000, are in line with the typical $0.030 (0.8 times).
Figures for earthquake risk are published for the city of Calgary as a whole, not for Renfrew alone.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Above the middle in Alberta: Renfrew’s $0.023 against a median of $0.013, with Black Diamond highest 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.
Around half of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Renfrew (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).
What a quake does after the shaking, fire, landslides, tsunami, falls outside NRCan’s figure for Renfrew.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Some radon around Renfrew: 8.1% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Renfrew’s area, at 8.1%, is close to the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Renfrew’s area, at 8.1%, is close to the median in Alberta (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 Renfrew’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.
Whatever Renfrew’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). · Radon tests published for the Calgary Health Region, not by town
Where to get warnings in Renfrew
Alerts for Renfrew 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. |
Fire danger and active fires near Renfrew are mapped daily by the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System; evacuation orders come from the municipality or province.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Renfrew
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Renfrew | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Crescent Heights 6,411 · 1.0 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Bridgeland/Riverside 6,860 · 1.1 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Winston Heights/Mountview 4,361 · 1.5 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Tuxedo Park 4,082 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Downtown East Village 3,524 · 1.9 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Eau Claire 3,733 · 2.1 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
The neighbour with the most fire is Crescent Heights (low), still no more than Renfrew (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Renfrew faces
What to do about the hazards Renfrew 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
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Renfrew’s included.
- Wildfire counts one way. Burned land within 25 km of where people live, averaged over 1986–2025 and checked for fuel near homes, is the measure; it looks back, not ahead, and only ever counts against Renfrew.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Renfrew is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- 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 Renfrew.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Renfrew
Is radon a problem in Renfrew?
Around Renfrew, 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 Renfrew at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Renfrew since 1986 (last in 2014); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
Does Renfrew flood?
There is flood mapping for Renfrew on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
How is Renfrew’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Renfrew’s Hazard risk grade is B+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
How big is the earthquake risk in Renfrew?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Renfrew $0.023 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
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).