Photo: Jonathan Schilling · CC BY-SA 4.0Hazards in West Springs: wildfire low, radon over the guideline in 8.1% of tested homes
Fire seldom reaches West Springs: since 1986, 0% of the land within 25 km has burned (0.000% a year). Shaking is about as much of a worry in West Springs as in most places, at $0.023 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). West Springs grades B+ for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about West Springs’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for West Springs: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What West Springs faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
West Springs grades B+ for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for West Springs, 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: 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 West Springs: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0.1% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where West Springs’ residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Fire claims 0.000% of the land around West Springs each year, a low band, with the typical Canadian town at 0.000%.
With 2% forest fuel within 5 km and 3.5% within 25 km, the land around West Springs 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
Of the 478 towns in Alberta, 386 have a burn rate that rounds to zero, West Springs among them; Wainwright leads at 1.43% a year.
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.
West Springs 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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for West Springs
Flood studies whose area touches West Springs, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
NRCan’s inventory is silent on West Springs, so any flood map would be the municipality’s own.
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 46% of towns in Alberta have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%, and West Springs is not among them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of West Springs’ homes stand in a flood zone.
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.”
Ordinary seismic risk in West Springs: $0.023 per $1,000 of buildings a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
West Springs’ $0.023 is close to the typical town’s $0.030 (0.8 times as much).
For earthquake risk, the only official count covers all of the city of Calgary, West Springs included.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in Alberta peaks in Black Diamond ($0.048); West Springs, 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.
Middle of the pack: 54% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have more earthquake risk than West Springs.
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).
The model counts damage to West Springs’ buildings and their occupants from shaking only: not liquefaction, landslides, tsunami or fires after a quake.
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 West Springs: 8.1% of area homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Source area for radon tests: the Calgary Health Region
At 8.1% over the guideline, the area around West Springs is about level with the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon around West Springs 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.
West Springs 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.
Basements, soil and how a house is sealed decide its radon, so in West Springs only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for West Springs
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for West Springs; 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. |
Smoke and fire warnings for West Springs come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around West Springs
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| West Springs | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Aspen Woods 9,606 · 1.2 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Coach Hill 3,383 · 1.6 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Strathcona Park 8,680 · 1.6 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Cougar Ridge 7,101 · 2.1 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Patterson 4,169 · 2.2 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Montgomery 4,456 · 3.3 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
West Springs’ low band tops its neighbours; Aspen Woods is next (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what West Springs faces
What to do about the hazards West Springs 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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; West Springs’ 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 West Springs 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 West Springs floods.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around West Springs’ homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
Questions about flooding and hazards in West Springs
Is West Springs at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around West Springs since 1986 (last in 2014); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
Is radon a problem in West Springs?
Around West Springs, 86 survey homes were tested and 8.1% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Does West Springs flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, West Springs’ flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
How is West Springs’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
West Springs’ Hazard risk grade is B+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
How big is the earthquake risk in West Springs?
Expected earthquake damage in West Springs comes to $0.023 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
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).