Photo: CnekYT · CC BY-SA 4.0Hazards in Woodbine: wildfire low, radon over the guideline in 8.1% of tested homes
Wildfire is rare near Woodbine: 0% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, a burn rate of 0.000% a year. NRCan expects $0.023 of shaking damage a year per $1,000 of buildings in Woodbine, near the typical $0.030. Hazard risk gives Woodbine a grade of B+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Woodbine’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Woodbine: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Woodbine faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Woodbine: B+
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Woodbine 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: 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 Woodbine: 0.2% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Woodbine’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Fire claims 0.000% of the land around Woodbine each year, a low band, with the typical Canadian town at 0.000%.
Only 3.8% of the land within 25 km of Woodbine is forest fuel, and 2.8% close in.
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 Woodbine 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.
Only 7.5% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are above the low band, which holds 92%; Woodbine, 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.
No flood study is listed for Woodbine
Flood studies whose area touches Woodbine, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
No flood study on the national inventory covers Woodbine; ask the municipality, which is the authority for its flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
No study touches Woodbine; 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.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Woodbine’s homes are at risk.
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.”
Earthquakes cost buildings in Woodbine $0.023 per $1,000 a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
At $0.023 per $1,000, Woodbine’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
Above the middle in Alberta: Woodbine’s $0.023 against a median of $0.013, with Black Diamond highest at $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 Woodbine (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).
The model counts damage to Woodbine’s 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). · Earthquake risk: the city of Calgary
Some radon around Woodbine: 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
8.1% of tested homes around Woodbine were over the guideline, much like the typical Canadian town at 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The typical town in Alberta has 7.5% over 200 Bq/m³; Woodbine’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.
26% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have more homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Woodbine’s 5–10% band, which holds 37%.
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.
One home in Woodbine can be high while next door is low; a three-month test settles it.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Woodbine
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Woodbine; 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. |
In fire season, check CWFIS for danger and active fires around Woodbine, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Woodbine
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Woodbine | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Woodlands 5,391 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Cedarbrae 5,943 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Braeside 5,706 · 2.1 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Evergreen 19,988 · 2.9 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Oakridge 5,623 · 3.0 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Palliser 4,987 · 3.1 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
The fire record around Evergreen is a touch heavier than Woodbine’s, but the band is the same: low (here low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Woodbine faces
What to do about the hazards Woodbine 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. Shaking damage is modelled from the ground, the buildings and the odds of each quake, and published for whole subdivisions such as Woodbine’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Woodbine’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Woodbine takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- 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 Woodbine.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Woodbine
Is radon a problem in Woodbine?
Around Woodbine, 86 survey homes were tested and 8.1% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How big is the earthquake risk in Woodbine?
Expected earthquake damage in Woodbine comes to $0.023 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is Woodbine at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Woodbine since 1986 (last in 2014); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How is Woodbine’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Woodbine grades B+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Does Woodbine flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Woodbine’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
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).