Photo: Sharon Hahn Darlin · CC BY 2.0Varsity is on Canada’s flood inventory: 1 listed, led by Government of Alberta
Wildfire is rare near Varsity: 0% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, a burn rate of 0.000% a year. For earthquakes Varsity is middling, $0.023 a year per $1,000 against $0.030 for the typical town. About as many homes carry radon around Varsity as elsewhere, 8.1% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Varsity grades B+ for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Varsity’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Varsity: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Varsity faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Varsity: B+
Earthquake risk and radon make Varsity’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
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. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Wildfire is rare near Varsity: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0.1% within 5 km
Past fire around Varsity’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Low by Canadian standards: 0.000% of the land a year around Varsity, 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
With 0.2% forest fuel within 5 km and 1.5% within 25 km, the land around Varsity 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
To three decimals the burn rate around Varsity is zero, as for 386 of the 478 towns in Alberta, while Wainwright reaches 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 Varsity 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.
A flood study covers Varsity, from Government of Alberta: 1 on the inventory
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Varsity: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Government of Alberta studied flooding in an area that includes Varsity (2025); open its map to see which streets lie in a flood zone.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bow and Elbow River Flood Study | Government of Alberta | 2025 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Alberta, 46% of towns against 58% nationally, but Varsity has one.
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 Varsity 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 Varsity: $0.023 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Nothing unusual about Varsity’s ground: $0.023 against a typical $0.030, 0.8 times.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in Alberta peaks in Black Diamond ($0.048); Varsity, 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 Varsity.
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 Varsity’s 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). · Earthquake risk: one figure for all of the city of Calgary
8.1% of homes tested around Varsity are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Varsity’s area sits close to the typical Canadian town: 8.1% over the guideline, against 6.6%. Nobody publishes radon tests for Varsity alone, so this card uses the figure for the Calgary Health Region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The typical town in Alberta has 7.5% over 200 Bq/m³; Varsity’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.
Radon tops the guideline in a modest share of homes around Varsity, a band holding 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% rank above.
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 survey sample isn’t a map: any home in Varsity can be high, and a three-month test is the only way to know.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Varsity
Alerts for Varsity 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 Varsity 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)
Hazards in the places around Varsity
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Varsity | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Dalhousie 8,617 · 1.9 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Brentwood 7,369 · 2.0 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Montgomery 4,456 · 2.1 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| University Heights 4,031 · 2.5 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Bowness 11,548 · 2.8 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Silver Springs 9,042 · 3.1 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
Varsity’s low band tops its neighbours; Dalhousie is next (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Varsity faces
Practical steps for Varsity’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?
- 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. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Varsity’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Varsity’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- 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 Varsity sits in.
- 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 Varsity floods.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Varsity
How is Varsity’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Varsity B+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
How big is the earthquake risk in Varsity?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Varsity $0.023 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is Varsity at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Varsity’s low band (0% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2014) is short of the level that counts.
Does Varsity flood?
Varsity’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 radon a problem in Varsity?
The area’s survey found 8.1% of 86 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Varsity.
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).