Photo: Unknown author Unknown author · Public domainHazard risk in Camrose is lower than in 89% of Canadian towns
Wildfire isn’t Camrose’s worry: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (0.000% a year). Earthquakes matter little: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.012 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Camrose’s survey area, 5.2% over the radon guideline, is close to the typical town’s 6.6%. Camrose grades A for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Camrose’s hazards
For Camrose, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Camrose faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Camrose grades A for hazard risk
For Camrose, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
Its place: #220 of 474 in Alberta and #475 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 Camrose has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Camrose’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Low by Canadian standards: 0.000% of the land a year around Camrose, 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Land that isn’t forest covers nearly all the ground around Camrose: forest fuel is 0% within 5 km and 0.1% within 25 km.
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
Among the 478 towns in Alberta, Wainwright burns fastest (1.43% a year); Camrose is with the 386 near zero.
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.
Most of the country’s 2,610 towns are low-band (92%, against 7.5% above); around Camrose, burning rounds to zero.
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.
Camrose is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Government of Alberta
Flood studies whose area touches Camrose, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
The flood study touching Camrose is Government of Alberta’s, dated 2024; its own map shows the zones street by street.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Camrose Flood Study | Government of Alberta | 2024 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Its flood study sets Camrose apart in Alberta, where 46% of towns have one (Canada: 58%).
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Nothing here counts toward Risk; the studies are pointers to the maps their owners keep for Camrose.
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.
Little shaking expected in Camrose: $0.012 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.
At $0.012 per $1,000, Camrose carries 0.4 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030): low.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
About level with the typical town in Alberta: Camrose’s $0.012 against $0.013; 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.
Earthquakes cost less around Camrose than in 84% of Canada’s 2,611 towns.
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).
For Camrose the model prices shaking damage to buildings, nothing more.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
5.2% of homes tested around Camrose 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 Camrose reads 5.2%, a shade from the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. Behind radon tests sits data gathered across the East Central Health, with Camrose one part of it.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Fewer homes top the guideline around Camrose (5.2%) than in the typical town in Alberta (7.5%), yet 1% went over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Between 5% and 10% of tests over the guideline: Camrose, and 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% are 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.
A low area share in Camrose doesn’t clear a house, nor does a high one condemn it: test.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Camrose
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Camrose; 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. |
For fires near Camrose, the national fire information system maps danger and active fires daily; local authorities give any evacuation order.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Camrose
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Camrose | Low | $0.012 | 5.2% | Yes |
| Camrose County 8,951 · 12 km | Low | $0.011 | 5.2% | Yes |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Camrose (low); Camrose County comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Camrose faces
Practical steps for Camrose’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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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 Camrose.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Camrose takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Camrose’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Wildfire counts one way. For Camrose, 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 Camrose
Is radon a problem in Camrose?
5.2% of the 97 homes Health Canada tested around Camrose topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How is Camrose’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Camrose A, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
How big is the earthquake risk in Camrose?
About $0.012 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Camrose.
Is Camrose at risk of wildfire?
Very little by the national record: Camrose’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Does Camrose flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Camrose; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
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).