Photo: DXR · CC BY-SA 4.0A flood study covers Rosedale: 1 on the national inventory, the newest from Government of Alberta
The burned-area map is nearly blank around Rosedale, 0% within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. Earthquake risk in Rosedale is ordinary: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.023 a year per $1,000 of value, close to the typical town’s $0.030. About as many homes carry radon around Rosedale as elsewhere, 8.1% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Rosedale a grade of B+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Rosedale’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Rosedale: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Rosedale faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Rosedale grades B+ for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Rosedale, 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: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Few fires near Rosedale: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Past fire around Rosedale’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Around Rosedale fire takes 0.000% of the land in a typical year, the typical Canadian town 0.000%, which is low.
Since 1986 the nearest fire to Rosedale’s homes came within 11 km, never inside 5 km.
With 0% forest fuel within 5 km and 0.8% within 25 km, the land around Rosedale 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 Rosedale 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.
The low band holds 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, and Rosedale sits at its very bottom; only 7.5% are above it.
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.
Rosedale is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Government of Alberta
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Rosedale: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The flood study touching Rosedale is Government of Alberta’s, dated 2025; its own map shows the zones street by street.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bow and Elbow River Flood Study | Government of Alberta | 2025 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Alberta, 46% of towns against 58% nationally, but Rosedale has one.
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 Rosedale.
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.
Expected shaking damage in Rosedale: $0.023 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
0.8 times the typical $0.030: Rosedale’s $0.023 is ordinary.
For earthquake risk, the only official count covers all of the city of Calgary, Rosedale included.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Alberta expects $0.013 a year; Rosedale expects $0.023, and Black Diamond $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 Rosedale.
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 Rosedale’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).
Some radon around Rosedale: 8.1% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Near the middle for radon: Rosedale’s area 8.1%, the typical Canadian town 6.6%. Rosedale doesn’t get its own radon tests figures; the ones here come from the Calgary Health Region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The typical town in Alberta has 7.5% over 200 Bq/m³; Rosedale’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 Rosedale 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.
The share describes the area, not a house: in Rosedale as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Rosedale
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Rosedale; 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. |
For fires near Rosedale, the national fire information system maps danger and active fires daily; local authorities give any evacuation order.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Rosedale
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rosedale | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Sunnyside 2,976 · 0.6 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Hillhurst 8,435 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Eau Claire 3,733 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Downtown Commercial Core 9,286 · 1.5 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Crescent Heights 6,411 · 1.6 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Capitol Hill 6,135 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
Sunnyside (low) has the heaviest fire record of Rosedale’s neighbours, and Rosedale (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Rosedale faces
What to do about the hazards Rosedale 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. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Rosedale’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Rosedale without grading them.
- Radon is a survey. Radon figures pool the survey’s home tests by area: postal areas once their boundaries arrive, the 2007 health region around Rosedale until then.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Rosedale’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Rosedale
Is radon a problem in Rosedale?
In Health Canada’s survey, 8.1% of 86 homes tested in Rosedale’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
How big is the earthquake risk in Rosedale?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Rosedale $0.023 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is Rosedale at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0% of the land within 25 km of Rosedale has burned since 1986, the last in 2014, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
How is Rosedale’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Rosedale’s Hazard risk grade is B+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Does Rosedale flood?
A flood study covers Rosedale on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
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).