Photo: CnekYT · CC BY-SA 4.0Southwood’s hazards at a glance: a low wildfire record and 8.1% of area homes over the radon guideline
Around Southwood, wildfire is practically absent from the record: 0% within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. For earthquakes Southwood is middling, $0.023 a year per $1,000 against $0.030 for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Southwood a grade of B+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Southwood’s hazards
For Southwood, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Southwood faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Southwood grades B+ for hazard risk
For Southwood, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
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.
Few fires near Southwood: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Past fire around Southwood’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
With 0.000% burned a year, Southwood is among the many low-band places (the typical Canadian town 0.000%).
Nothing inside 5 km of Southwood’s homes has burned since 1986, and the nearest scar is 5.3 km off.
Around Southwood the forest is thin or far off: 1.4% of the land within 5 km and 1.8% 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 Southwood, 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.
The low band holds 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, and Southwood 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.
No flood study is listed for Southwood
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Southwood: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
There is no study for Southwood on the national flood inventory, which is far from complete.
Towns with a flood study on file
Southwood has no flood study on file; only 46% of towns in Alberta do, against 58% across Canada.
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 Southwood’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.”
Expected shaking damage in Southwood: $0.023 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Southwood’s $0.023 is close to the typical town’s $0.030 (0.8 times as much).
Figures for earthquake risk are published for the city of Calgary as a whole, not for Southwood alone.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in Alberta peaks in Black Diamond ($0.048); Southwood, 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.
Neither high nor low for Canada: 54% of the 2,611 towns expect more damage than Southwood.
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 Southwood.
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 Southwood are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Area-wide: radon tests, counted over the Calgary Health Region
At 8.1% over the guideline, the area around Southwood is about level with the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Southwood’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.
Between 5% and 10% of tests over the guideline: Southwood, and 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% are higher.
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 Southwood 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 Southwood
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Southwood; 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 Southwood, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Southwood’s neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwood | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Canyon Meadows 6,751 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Braeside 5,706 · 1.5 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Haysboro 7,222 · 2.0 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Woodlands 5,391 · 2.2 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Palliser 4,987 · 2.2 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Willow Park 6,891 · 2.5 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
Canyon Meadows (low) has the heaviest fire record of Southwood’s neighbours, and Southwood (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Southwood faces
Practical steps for Southwood’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?
- 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. NRCan’s inventory says where flood mapping exists, not where water goes; the map’s owner is the authority for Southwood.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Southwood’s included.
- 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 Southwood.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Southwood is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Southwood
How is Southwood’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Southwood B+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is Southwood at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Southwood’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2014), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Southwood?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Southwood $0.023 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Does Southwood flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Southwood (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
Is radon a problem in Southwood?
8.1% of the 86 homes Health Canada tested around Southwood topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
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).