Taradale’s hazards at a glance: a low wildfire record and 8.1% of area homes over the radon guideline
Since 1986 almost nothing has burned near Taradale: 0% of the land within 25 km, or 0.000% a year. Earthquake risk in Taradale 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. Taradale grades B+ for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Taradale’s hazards
For Taradale, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Taradale faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Taradale: B+
Seismic risk and radon set Taradale’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 Taradale has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Taradale’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
With 0.000% burned a year, Taradale is among the many low-band places (the typical Canadian town 0.000%).
The closest burn since 1986 lies 20 km from Taradale’s homes, none within 5 km.
With 0% forest fuel within 5 km and 0.3% within 25 km, the land around Taradale 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
Fire has taken almost none of the land around Taradale, 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 Taradale 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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Taradale
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Taradale: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
An empty entry for Taradale on the inventory isn’t proof of safety; ask locally for flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Alberta reaches 46% of towns, below the 58% across Canada, and not Taradale.
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 Taradale 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.”
Expected shaking damage in Taradale: $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, Taradale’s earthquake risk is about the typical Canadian town’s ($0.030; 0.8 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Alberta expects $0.013 a year; Taradale 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 Taradale (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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in Taradale is counted; landslides, liquefaction, tsunami and fire after a quake aren’t.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean). · Data for earthquake risk covers the city of Calgary
Some radon around Taradale: 8.1% of area homes over the 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
The survey area of Taradale reads 8.1%, a shade from the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon around Taradale is ordinary for towns in Alberta: 8.1%, beside a median of 7.5%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns share Taradale’s band of 5 to 10%; 26% sit 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.
A low area share in Taradale doesn’t clear a house, nor does a high one condemn it: test.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Taradale
Alerts for Taradale 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. |
Alert Ready carries evacuation orders for Taradale to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Taradale’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taradale | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Saddle Ridge 21,479 · 1.4 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Martindale 14,467 · 1.9 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Coral Springs 5,542 · 2.1 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Falconridge 10,218 · 2.2 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Castleridge 6,127 · 2.6 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Cityscape 11,782 · 3.4 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
Saddle Ridge (low) has the heaviest fire record of Taradale’s neighbours, and Taradale (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Taradale faces
Practical steps for Taradale’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. 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 Taradale floods.
- 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 Taradale sits in.
- 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 Taradale.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Taradale’s included.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Taradale
How is Taradale’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Taradale B+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Does Taradale flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Taradale (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
How big is the earthquake risk in Taradale?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Taradale’s buildings lose $0.023 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is Taradale at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Taradale’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.
Is radon a problem in Taradale?
8.1% of the 86 homes Health Canada tested around Taradale 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).