Photo: CnekYT · CC BY-SA 4.0Spruce Cliff is on Canada’s flood inventory: 1 listed, led by Government of Alberta
For Spruce Cliff, wildfire history is close to nil: 0% of nearby land since 1986, 0.000% a year. Seismic risk in Spruce Cliff sits near the middle: $0.023 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Radon is about average around Spruce Cliff: 8.1% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Spruce Cliff grades B+ for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Spruce Cliff’s hazards
For Spruce Cliff, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Spruce Cliff faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Spruce Cliff grades B+ for hazard risk
The grade weighs Spruce Cliff’s 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: 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.
Wildfire is rare near Spruce Cliff: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Spruce Cliff’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Next to the typical Canadian town (0.000% a year), Spruce Cliff’s 0.000% is in the low band.
No fire has burned within 5 km of Spruce Cliff’s homes since 1986; the nearest burn is 7.7 km away.
Land that isn’t forest covers nearly all the ground around Spruce Cliff: forest fuel is 0% within 5 km and 1.8% 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
Near-zero burning puts Spruce Cliff 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.
92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are in the low band and 7.5% above it; Spruce Cliff 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.
A flood study covers Spruce Cliff, from Government of Alberta: 1 on the inventory
Flood studies whose area touches Spruce Cliff, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
A 2025 study by Government of Alberta covers Spruce Cliff, and its map, not the inventory, shows the zones.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bow and Elbow River Flood Study | Government of Alberta | 2025 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Spruce Cliff 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 Spruce Cliff’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 Spruce Cliff $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.
Spruce Cliff’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 Spruce Cliff alone.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in Alberta peaks in Black Diamond ($0.048); Spruce Cliff, 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 Spruce Cliff (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).
What a quake does after the shaking, fire, landslides, tsunami, falls outside NRCan’s figure for Spruce Cliff.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Radon about average around Spruce Cliff: 8.1% over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Shared with the rest of the Calgary Health Region: radon tests
Near the middle for radon: Spruce Cliff’s area 8.1%, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The typical town in Alberta has 7.5% over 200 Bq/m³; Spruce Cliff’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.
Spruce Cliff is in the 5–10% band with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% have more.
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.
Health Canada advises testing every home, Spruce Cliff’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Spruce Cliff
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Spruce Cliff; 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 Spruce Cliff, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Spruce Cliff’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spruce Cliff | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Wildwood 4,177 · 1.1 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Rosscarrock 3,862 · 1.1 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| West Hillhurst 10,319 · 1.5 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Killarney/Glengarry 7,935 · 1.5 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Westgate 3,139 · 1.8 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Sunalta 4,151 · 2.3 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
Among its neighbours Spruce Cliff has the most fire on record (low); Wildwood follows (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Spruce Cliff faces
What to do about the hazards Spruce Cliff 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
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. A study’s area can be a whole watershed or province, so being on the inventory says a map exists, not that a home in Spruce Cliff floods.
- 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 Spruce Cliff.
- Radon is a survey. The radon share comes from about 14,000 long-term home tests in 2009–2011, pooled for now by the 2007 health region Spruce Cliff sits in.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Spruce Cliff’s included.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Spruce Cliff
How is Spruce Cliff’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Spruce Cliff’s Hazard risk grade is B+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
How big is the earthquake risk in Spruce Cliff?
About $0.023 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Spruce Cliff.
Does Spruce Cliff flood?
Spruce Cliff’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
Is Spruce Cliff at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0% of the land within 25 km of Spruce Cliff has burned since 1986, the last in 2014, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
Is radon a problem in Spruce Cliff?
In Health Canada’s survey, 8.1% of 86 homes tested in Spruce Cliff’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
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).