Photo: LittleT889 · CC0Scenic Acres is on Canada’s flood inventory: 1 listed, led by Government of Alberta
Wildfire is rare near Scenic Acres: 0% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, a burn rate of 0.000% a year. Earthquake risk in Scenic Acres 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. Radon is about average around Scenic Acres: 8.1% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Scenic Acres a grade of B+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Scenic Acres’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Scenic Acres: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Scenic Acres faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Scenic Acres grades B+ for hazard risk
The grade weighs Scenic Acres’ seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
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 Scenic Acres has burned: 0.1% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Scenic Acres’ residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Low by Canadian standards: 0.000% of the land a year around Scenic Acres, 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
With 0.5% forest fuel within 5 km and 2.1% within 25 km, the land around Scenic Acres 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
Near-zero burning puts Scenic Acres with 386 of the 478 towns in Alberta, far below Wainwright 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.
Most of the country’s 2,610 towns are low-band (92%, against 7.5% above); around Scenic Acres, burning 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.
Government of Alberta has mapped flooding for Scenic Acres (1 study)
Flood studies whose area touches Scenic Acres, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
The flood study touching Scenic Acres 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
Its flood study sets Scenic Acres apart in Alberta, where 46% of towns have one (Canada: 58%).
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Scenic Acres’ homes stand in a flood zone.
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.
Ordinary seismic risk in Scenic Acres: $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.
At $0.023 per $1,000, Scenic Acres’ earthquake risk is about the typical Canadian town’s ($0.030; 0.8 times).
For earthquake risk, the only official count covers all of the city of Calgary, Scenic Acres included.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.023, Scenic Acres 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.
Scenic Acres 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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Scenic Acres’ figure, nor landslides or tsunami: it is buildings and shaking.
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 Scenic Acres: 8.1% of area homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Measured across the Calgary Health Region: radon tests
The survey area of Scenic Acres reads 8.1%, a shade from the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Scenic Acres’ 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.
A middling share of high tests puts Scenic Acres 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 Scenic Acres 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).
Weather and fire alerts for Scenic Acres
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Scenic Acres; 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. |
In fire season, check CWFIS for danger and active fires around Scenic Acres, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Scenic Acres
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scenic Acres | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Arbour Lake 10,454 · 2.0 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Ranchlands 7,376 · 2.1 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Tuscany 19,986 · 2.2 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Silver Springs 9,042 · 2.2 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Royal Oak 12,343 · 3.0 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Hawkwood 9,188 · 3.3 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
The fire record around Tuscany is a touch heavier than Scenic Acres’, 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 Scenic Acres faces
What to do about the hazards Scenic Acres 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
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Scenic Acres’ homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Shaking damage is modelled from the ground, the buildings and the odds of each quake, and published for whole subdivisions such as Scenic Acres’.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Scenic Acres 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 Scenic Acres.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Scenic Acres
How big is the earthquake risk in Scenic Acres?
Expected earthquake damage in Scenic Acres comes to $0.023 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
How is Scenic Acres’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Scenic Acres grades B+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is radon a problem in Scenic Acres?
In Health Canada’s survey, 8.1% of 86 homes tested in Scenic Acres’ area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Does Scenic Acres flood?
There is flood mapping for Scenic Acres on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
Is Scenic Acres at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0% of the land within 25 km of Scenic Acres has burned since 1986, the last in 2018, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
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).