Photo: Qyd · CC BY 2.5A flood study covers Sandstone Valley: 1 on the national inventory, the newest from Government of Alberta
Wildfire barely registers for Sandstone Valley, at 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). NRCan expects $0.023 of shaking damage a year per $1,000 of buildings in Sandstone Valley, near the typical $0.030. Radon around Sandstone Valley is ordinary for Canada: 8.1% of tested homes over the guideline (6.6% typical). Sandstone Valley grades B+ for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Sandstone Valley’s hazards
For Sandstone Valley, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Sandstone Valley faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Sandstone Valley grades B+ for hazard risk
Seismic risk and radon set Sandstone Valley’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
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. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Little of the land around Sandstone Valley has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Sandstone Valley’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
At 0.000% of the land a year, Sandstone Valley’s burn rate is in the low band; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Sandstone Valley’s homes have had no fire within 5 km since 1986; the closest was 9.7 km away.
Land that isn’t forest covers nearly all the ground around Sandstone Valley: forest fuel is 0% within 5 km and 0.7% 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
To three decimals the burn rate around Sandstone Valley 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 Sandstone Valley 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.
Government of Alberta has mapped flooding for Sandstone Valley (1 study)
Flood studies whose area touches Sandstone Valley, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
One study on the inventory touches Sandstone Valley, Government of Alberta’s from 2012, and its area can be large, so it says a map exists, not that the town floods.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nose and West Nose Creek Flood Hazard Study | Government of Alberta | 2012 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Sandstone Valley is one of the 46% of towns in Alberta with a flood study on file, fewer than Canada’s 58%.
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 Sandstone Valley’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.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Sandstone Valley $0.023 per $1,000 a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
0.8 times the typical $0.030: Sandstone Valley’s $0.023 is ordinary.
Sandstone Valley doesn’t get its own earthquake risk figures; the ones here come from the city of Calgary.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in Alberta peaks in Black Diamond ($0.048); Sandstone Valley, 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.
Middle of the pack: 54% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have more earthquake risk than Sandstone Valley.
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 Sandstone Valley.
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 Sandstone Valley are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Area-wide: radon tests, counted over the Calgary Health Region
The survey area of Sandstone Valley reads 8.1%, a shade from the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Sandstone Valley’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.
Radon tops the guideline in a modest share of homes around Sandstone Valley, a band holding 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% rank above.
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.
Neighbouring homes in Sandstone Valley can differ a lot; only a long-term test tells you about yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Sandstone Valley
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Sandstone Valley; 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. |
Smoke and fire warnings for Sandstone Valley come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Sandstone Valley
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sandstone Valley | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Macewan Glen 4,718 · 1.1 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Beddington Heights 11,333 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Hidden Valley 10,614 · 1.9 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Country Hills 3,702 · 1.9 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Panorama Hills 25,494 · 2.6 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Harvest Hills 7,930 · 3.1 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
Sandstone Valley’s low band tops its neighbours; Macewan Glen is next (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Sandstone Valley faces
Practical steps for Sandstone Valley’s hazards, most pressing first.
- 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
- 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 Sandstone Valley until then.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Sandstone Valley’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Sandstone Valley without grading them.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Sandstone Valley, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Sandstone Valley
How is Sandstone Valley’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Sandstone Valley grades B+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Does Sandstone Valley flood?
A flood study covers Sandstone Valley on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
How big is the earthquake risk in Sandstone Valley?
Expected earthquake damage in Sandstone Valley comes to $0.023 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is Sandstone Valley at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Sandstone Valley’s low band (0% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2014) is short of the level that counts.
Is radon a problem in Sandstone Valley?
The area’s survey found 8.1% of 86 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Sandstone Valley.
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).