Flood mapping exists for Sundance: 1 on record, latest by Government of Alberta
The national fire record shows next to nothing around Sundance, 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). For earthquakes Sundance is middling, $0.023 a year per $1,000 against $0.030 for the typical town. Radon is about average around Sundance: 8.1% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Sundance grades B+ for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Sundance’s hazards
For Sundance, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Sundance faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Sundance grades B+ for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Sundance, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
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 Sundance: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Sundance’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
At 0.000% of the land a year, Sundance’s burn rate is in the low band; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Nothing inside 5 km of Sundance’s homes has burned since 1986, and the nearest scar is 7.2 km off.
Around Sundance the forest is thin or far off: 1% of the land within 5 km and 1.3% 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
Little or nothing burns around Sundance in a typical year; 386 of the 478 towns in Alberta share that, and Wainwright leads 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.
Sundance shares the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, its burn rate rounding to nothing; 7.5% burn faster.
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 Sundance (1 study)
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Sundance: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Government of Alberta holds the flood mapping that covers Sundance (2025), linked below.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bow and Elbow River Flood Study | Government of Alberta | 2025 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 46% of towns in Alberta have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%; Sundance is one of them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Sundance floods.
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.
Expected shaking damage in Sundance: $0.023 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.023 per $1,000, Sundance’s earthquake risk is about the typical Canadian town’s ($0.030; 0.8 times).
Sundance 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
The typical town in Alberta expects $0.013 a year; Sundance expects $0.023, and Black Diamond $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.
Around half of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Sundance (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).
For Sundance the model prices shaking damage to buildings, nothing more.
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 Sundance: 8.1% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Measured across the Calgary Health Region: radon tests
Sundance’s area, at 8.1%, is close to the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The typical town in Alberta has 7.5% over 200 Bq/m³; Sundance’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.
A middling share of high tests puts Sundance 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.
Whatever Sundance’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 Sundance
Alerts for Sundance 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. |
Fire danger and active fires near Sundance are mapped daily by the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System; evacuation orders come from the municipality or province.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Sundance’s neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
Chaparral (low) has the heaviest fire record of Sundance’s neighbours, and Sundance (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Sundance faces
What to do about the hazards Sundance 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
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Sundance 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 Sundance.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Sundance’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 Sundance.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Sundance
Is Sundance at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0% of the land within 25 km of Sundance has burned since 1986, the last in 2014, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
How big is the earthquake risk in Sundance?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Sundance $0.023 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Does Sundance flood?
There is flood mapping for Sundance on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
How is Sundance’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Sundance grades B+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is radon a problem in Sundance?
In Health Canada’s survey, 8.1% of 86 homes tested in Sundance’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).