Hazards in Rocky Ridge: wildfire low, radon over the guideline in 8.1% of tested homes
Wildfire is rare near Rocky Ridge: 0% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, a burn rate of 0.001% a year. For earthquakes Rocky Ridge is middling, $0.023 a year per $1,000 against $0.030 for the typical town. Rocky Ridge grades B+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Rocky Ridge’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Rocky Ridge: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Rocky Ridge faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Rocky Ridge grades B+ for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Rocky Ridge, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
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.
Little of the land around Rocky Ridge has burned: 0.1% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Rocky Ridge’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
The land within 25 km of Rocky Ridge burns at 0.001% a year on average, the low band; the typical Canadian town: 0.000%.
Only 1.6% of the land within 25 km of Rocky Ridge is forest fuel, and 0.4% 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
The land around Rocky Ridge burns at 0.001% a year, the 79th highest rate of 478 towns in Alberta; Wainwright tops it 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.
Rocky Ridge is in the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns; 7.5% sit in moderate or 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 Rocky Ridge
Flood studies whose area touches Rocky Ridge, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
No flood study on the national inventory covers Rocky Ridge; 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 Rocky Ridge has none.
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 Rocky Ridge 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.”
Ordinary seismic risk in Rocky Ridge: $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.
With $0.023 of shaking damage a year per $1,000, Rocky Ridge is about even with the typical $0.030 (0.8 times).
Rocky Ridge shares its earthquake risk numbers with the rest of the city of Calgary.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.023, Rocky Ridge 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.
Rocky Ridge 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).
The model counts damage to Rocky Ridge’s buildings and their occupants from shaking only: not liquefaction, landslides, tsunami or fires after a quake.
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 Rocky Ridge are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Near the middle for radon: Rocky Ridge’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; Rocky Ridge’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 Rocky Ridge 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.
One home in Rocky Ridge can be high while next door is low; a three-month test settles it.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests: the Calgary Health Region
Weather and fire alerts for Rocky Ridge
Alerts for Rocky Ridge 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. |
Evacuation orders for Rocky Ridge come from the municipality or the province, while CWFIS maps fire danger every day.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Rocky Ridge
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rocky Ridge | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Royal Oak 12,343 · 1.8 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Tuscany 19,986 · 2.0 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Rocky View County 50,260 · 2.2 km | Low | $0.024 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Arbour Lake 10,454 · 3.3 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Scenic Acres 8,026 · 3.4 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Citadel 10,196 · 4.8 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
The fire record around Rocky View County is a touch heavier than Rocky Ridge’s, but the band is the same: low (here low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Rocky Ridge faces
What to do about the hazards Rocky Ridge 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
- 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 Rocky Ridge.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Rocky Ridge’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Rocky Ridge takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Rocky Ridge’s figure is its subdivision’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Rocky Ridge
How big is the earthquake risk in Rocky Ridge?
About $0.023 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Rocky Ridge.
Is radon a problem in Rocky Ridge?
In Health Canada’s survey, 8.1% of 86 homes tested in Rocky Ridge’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Does Rocky Ridge flood?
Nothing is listed for Rocky Ridge on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
Is Rocky Ridge at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0% of the land within 25 km of Rocky Ridge has burned since 1986, the last in 2021, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
How is Rocky Ridge’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Rocky Ridge’s Hazard risk grade is B+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
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).