Wildfire low, radon 8.1%: how Whitehorn stands on hazards
Fire has left almost no mark near Whitehorn: 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. Earthquake risk in Whitehorn 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. Whitehorn grades B+ for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Whitehorn’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Whitehorn: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Whitehorn faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Whitehorn: B+
For Whitehorn, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
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. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Few fires near Whitehorn: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Whitehorn’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Around Whitehorn fire takes 0.000% of the land in a typical year, the typical Canadian town 0.000%, which is low.
Whitehorn’s homes have had no fire within 5 km since 1986; the closest was 17 km away.
Forest makes up 0% of the land within 5 km of Whitehorn and 0.5% within 25 km, little for a forest fire to run through.
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 Whitehorn 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.
The low band holds 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, and Whitehorn 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.
No flood study is listed for Whitehorn
Flood studies whose area touches Whitehorn, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
There is no study for Whitehorn on the national flood inventory, which is far from complete.
Towns with a flood study on file
No study touches Whitehorn; in Alberta, 46% of towns have one, below Canada’s 58%.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Whitehorn.
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 Whitehorn: $0.023 a year per $1,000
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
0.8 times the typical $0.030: Whitehorn’s $0.023 is ordinary.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in Alberta peaks in Black Diamond ($0.048); Whitehorn, 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 Whitehorn.
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 loss is to Whitehorn’s buildings alone, from ground shaking; infrastructure and secondary hazards are left out.
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
Radon about average around Whitehorn: 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: Whitehorn’s area 8.1%, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Whitehorn’s area, at 8.1%, is close to the median in Alberta (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 Whitehorn’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.
Basements, soil and how a house is sealed decide its radon, so in Whitehorn only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Whitehorn
Alerts for Whitehorn 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. |
Evacuation orders for Whitehorn come from the municipality or the province, while CWFIS maps fire danger every day.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Whitehorn
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whitehorn | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Rundle 10,549 · 1.4 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Temple 10,545 · 1.8 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Castleridge 6,127 · 1.9 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Pineridge 10,062 · 2.4 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Falconridge 10,218 · 2.5 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Monterey Park 10,363 · 2.8 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
Whitehorn’s low band tops its neighbours; Rundle is next (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Whitehorn faces
Practical steps for Whitehorn’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
- Earthquakes are modelled. Shaking damage is modelled from the ground, the buildings and the odds of each quake, and published for whole subdivisions such as Whitehorn’s.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Whitehorn takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Whitehorn’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. The flood inventory points to maps; it is incomplete and not the official source, so ask the municipality about any street in Whitehorn.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Whitehorn
Is radon a problem in Whitehorn?
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 Whitehorn.
How big is the earthquake risk in Whitehorn?
Expected earthquake damage in Whitehorn comes to $0.023 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Does Whitehorn flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Whitehorn, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
How is Whitehorn’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Whitehorn B+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is Whitehorn at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Whitehorn’s low band (0% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2014) is short of the level that counts.
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).