Photo: Daniel from Glasgow, United Kingdom · CC BY 2.0Wildfire low, radon 8.1%: how Saddle Ridge stands on hazards
No wildfire is mapped within 25 km of Saddle Ridge’s homes since 1986 (0% of the land, 0.000% a year). Shaking is about as much of a worry in Saddle Ridge as in most places, at $0.023 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Saddle Ridge grades B+ for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Saddle Ridge’s hazards
For Saddle Ridge, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Saddle Ridge faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Saddle Ridge: B+
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Saddle Ridge 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.
Wildfire is rare near Saddle Ridge: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Saddle Ridge’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Saddle Ridge burns at 0.000% a year, low against 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Saddle Ridge’s homes have had no fire within 5 km since 1986; the closest was 19 km away.
Around Saddle Ridge the forest is thin or far off: 0% of the land within 5 km and 0.3% within 25 km is forest fuel.
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 Saddle Ridge, 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.
92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are in the low band and 7.5% above it; Saddle Ridge is among the many where the yearly burn rate 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.
No flood study is listed for Saddle Ridge
Flood studies whose area touches Saddle Ridge, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists no study whose area touches Saddle Ridge, which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped.
Towns with a flood study on file
No study touches Saddle Ridge; in Alberta, 46% of towns have one, below Canada’s 58%.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Saddle Ridge.
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 Saddle 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.
Saddle Ridge’s $0.023 is close to the typical town’s $0.030 (0.8 times as much).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in Alberta peaks in Black Diamond ($0.048); Saddle Ridge, at $0.023, sits above the median of $0.013.
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 Saddle Ridge (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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in Saddle Ridge is counted; landslides, liquefaction, tsunami and fire after a quake aren’t.
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 Saddle Ridge: 8.1% over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Around Saddle Ridge, 8.1% of tested homes topped the guideline, near the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. Saddle Ridge 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
Radon around Saddle Ridge 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.
26% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have more homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Saddle Ridge’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 Saddle Ridge’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).
Where to get warnings in Saddle Ridge
Alerts for Saddle 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. |
Alert Ready carries evacuation orders for Saddle Ridge 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 Saddle Ridge
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saddle Ridge | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Taradale 17,911 · 1.4 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Cityscape 11,782 · 2.1 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Martindale 14,467 · 2.2 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Falconridge 10,218 · 3.3 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Castleridge 6,127 · 3.3 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Coral Springs 5,542 · 3.4 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
Nowhere around Saddle Ridge burns more: Taradale, the closest rival, is low to its low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Saddle Ridge faces
What to do about the hazards Saddle 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
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Saddle Ridge’s included.
- 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 Saddle Ridge.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Saddle Ridge is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- 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 Saddle Ridge.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Saddle Ridge
Is Saddle Ridge at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Saddle Ridge since 1986 (last in 2014); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How is Saddle Ridge’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Saddle Ridge B+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Does Saddle Ridge flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Saddle Ridge’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
Is radon a problem in Saddle Ridge?
Around Saddle Ridge, 86 survey homes were tested and 8.1% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How big is the earthquake risk in Saddle Ridge?
Expected earthquake damage in Saddle Ridge comes to $0.023 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
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).