Photo: Cszmurlo · CC BY 3.0Woodlands’ hazards at a glance: a low wildfire record and 8.1% of area homes over the radon guideline
Little of the land around Woodlands has burned: 0% within 25 km since 1986, or 0.000% a year. Seismic risk in Woodlands sits near the middle: $0.023 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Woodlands grades B+ for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Woodlands’s hazards
For Woodlands, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Woodlands faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Woodlands grades B+ for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Woodlands, 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: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Little of the land around Woodlands has burned: 0.2% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Woodlands’ residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
The land within 25 km of Woodlands burns at 0.000% a year on average, the low band; the typical Canadian town: 0.000%.
Forest makes up 2.5% of the land within 5 km of Woodlands and 2.8% 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
Of the 478 towns in Alberta, 386 have a burn rate that rounds to zero, Woodlands 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.
Like most of Canada’s 2,610 towns (92%), Woodlands is in the low band, with a burn rate of zero to three decimals; 7.5% rank higher.
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 Woodlands
Flood studies whose area touches Woodlands, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
NRCan’s inventory is silent on Woodlands, so any flood map would be the municipality’s own.
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Alberta, 46% of towns against 58% nationally, and Woodlands has none.
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 Woodlands’ 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 Woodlands: $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.
0.8 times the typical $0.030: Woodlands’ $0.023 is ordinary.
Woodlands doesn’t get its own earthquake risk figures; the ones here come from the city of Calgary.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.023, Woodlands is above the typical town in Alberta ($0.013); Black Diamond has the most 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.
Neither high nor low for Canada: 54% of the 2,611 towns expect more damage than Woodlands.
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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in Woodlands is counted; landslides, liquefaction, tsunami and fire after a quake aren’t.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Radon about average around Woodlands: 8.1% 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
Near the middle for radon: Woodlands’ area 8.1%, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon around Woodlands 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.
A middling share of high tests puts Woodlands with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, below 26% of them.
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.
Neighbouring homes in Woodlands can differ a lot; only a long-term test tells you about yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Woodlands
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Woodlands; 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 Woodlands, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Woodlands
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Woodlands | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Woodbine 8,075 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Braeside 5,706 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Cedarbrae 5,943 · 1.8 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Southwood 6,092 · 2.2 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Canyon Meadows 6,751 · 2.3 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Palliser 4,987 · 2.6 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
The neighbour with the most fire is Woodbine (low), still no more than Woodlands (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Woodlands faces
What to do about the hazards Woodlands 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
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Woodlands is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Woodlands, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Woodlands’ census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. NRCan’s inventory says where flood mapping exists, not where water goes; the map’s owner is the authority for Woodlands.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Woodlands
Does Woodlands flood?
Nothing is listed for Woodlands on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
How is Woodlands’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Woodlands’ Hazard risk grade is B+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is radon a problem in Woodlands?
In Health Canada’s survey, 8.1% of 86 homes tested in Woodlands’ area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Is Woodlands at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0% of the land within 25 km of Woodlands has burned since 1986, the last in 2014, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
How big is the earthquake risk in Woodlands?
About $0.023 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Woodlands.
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).