Photo: JMacPherson from Calgary, Canada · CC BY 2.0Flood mapping exists for Wildwood: 1 on record, latest by Government of Alberta
Wildfire barely registers for Wildwood, at 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). NRCan expects $0.023 of shaking damage a year per $1,000 of buildings in Wildwood, near the typical $0.030. Radon around Wildwood is ordinary for Canada: 8.1% of tested homes over the guideline (6.6% typical). Hazard risk gives Wildwood a grade of B+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Wildwood’s hazards
For Wildwood, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Wildwood faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Wildwood: B+
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Wildwood with little fire nearby would get no credit for 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 Wildwood has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Wildwood’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
At 0.000% of the land a year, Wildwood’s burn rate is in the low band; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Nothing inside 5 km of Wildwood’s homes has burned since 1986, and the nearest scar is 6.6 km off.
With 0% forest fuel within 5 km and 2.1% within 25 km, the land around Wildwood 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
Little or nothing burns around Wildwood 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.
Only 7.5% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are above the low band, which holds 92%; Wildwood, at a rounded zero, is far from them.
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.
Wildwood is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Government of Alberta
Flood studies whose area touches Wildwood, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
For Wildwood the inventory points to Government of Alberta’s 2025 study, whose map is the one to check.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bow and Elbow River Flood Study | Government of Alberta | 2025 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Wildwood is one of the 46% of towns in Alberta with a flood study on file, fewer than Canada’s 58%.
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 Wildwood 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 Wildwood: $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.
Nothing unusual about Wildwood’s ground: $0.023 against a typical $0.030, 0.8 times.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Wildwood’s $0.023 tops the median in Alberta, $0.013, though Black Diamond reaches $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.
Wildwood sits mid-range among Canada’s 2,611 towns: 54% expect more shaking damage.
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).
What a quake does after the shaking, fire, landslides, tsunami, falls outside NRCan’s figure for Wildwood.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean). · Area behind the earthquake risk figures: the city of Calgary
8.1% of homes tested around Wildwood are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
The survey area of Wildwood reads 8.1%, a shade from the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. Figures for radon tests are published for the Calgary Health Region as a whole, not for Wildwood alone.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Wildwood’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.
Wildwood 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.
Whatever Wildwood’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 Wildwood
Alerts for Wildwood 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 Wildwood to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Wildwood
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wildwood | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Spruce Cliff 6,691 · 1.1 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Rosscarrock 3,862 · 1.5 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Westgate 3,139 · 1.6 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| West Hillhurst 10,319 · 1.6 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Patterson 4,169 · 1.9 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| University Heights 4,031 · 2.4 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
Nowhere around Wildwood burns more: Spruce Cliff, the closest rival, is low to its low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Wildwood faces
What to do about the hazards Wildwood 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. The radon share comes from about 14,000 long-term home tests in 2009–2011, pooled for now by the 2007 health region Wildwood sits in.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Wildwood’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- 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 Wildwood floods.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Wildwood, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Wildwood
Is Wildwood at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0% of the land within 25 km of Wildwood has burned since 1986, the last in 2014, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
Is radon a problem in Wildwood?
In Health Canada’s survey, 8.1% of 86 homes tested in Wildwood’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
How is Wildwood’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Wildwood grades B+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Does Wildwood flood?
Wildwood’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
How big is the earthquake risk in Wildwood?
Expected earthquake damage in Wildwood 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).