Photo: D. Mulligan · CC BY-SA 3.0Canmore is on Canada’s flood inventory: 2 listed, led by Government of Alberta
The burn rate around Canmore is 0.13% a year (4.5% of the land within 25 km since 1986), a moderate band. Seismic risk in Canmore sits near the middle: $0.034 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Radon is about average around Canmore: 8.1% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Canmore grades B for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Canmore’s hazards
For Canmore, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Canmore faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Canmore grades B for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Canmore, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
Its place: #443 of 474 in Alberta and #1,439 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.
Some fire around Canmore: 4.5% of the land within 25 km since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Canmore’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
At 0.13% of the land a year, Canmore’s burn rate is moderate; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
57% of the land within 5 km of Canmore is forest fuel, close to the 56% 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
Canmore ranks 20th of the 478 towns in Alberta for burn rate, at 0.13% a year; Wainwright leads with 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.
Moderate puts Canmore above most of Canada’s 2,610 towns, yet 2.1% rank high or very high and 5.4% share its band.
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.
2 flood studies cover Canmore, the newest from Government of Alberta
Flood studies whose area touches Canmore, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
For Canmore the inventory points to 2 studies, most recently Government of Alberta’s in 2024.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Upper Bow River Flood Study | Government of Alberta | 2024 | final |
| Cougar Creek Flood Hazard Study | Government of Alberta | 1994 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Alberta, 46% of towns against 58% nationally, but Canmore has one.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood mapping around Canmore has come in steps: 2 studies from the 1990s to the 2020s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Canmore.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Canmore’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.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
Ordinary seismic risk in Canmore: $0.034 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.
Canmore’s $0.034 is close to the typical town’s $0.030 (1.1 times as much).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Above the middle in Alberta: Canmore’s $0.034 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.
Middle of the pack: 46% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have more earthquake risk than Canmore.
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 Canmore 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).
Radon about average around Canmore: 8.1% over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Near the middle for radon: Canmore’s area 8.1%, the typical Canadian town 6.6%. Canmore doesn’t get its own radon tests figures; the ones here come from the Calgary Health Region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The typical town in Alberta has 7.5% over 200 Bq/m³; Canmore’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.
A middling share of high tests puts Canmore 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.
Radon varies from house to house in Canmore, so the survey is a reason to test, not a result for yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Canmore
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Canmore; 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 Canmore, 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 Canmore
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canmore | Moderate | $0.034 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Bighorn No. 8 1,857 · 12 km | Moderate | $0.031 | 8.1% | Yes |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Canmore (moderate); Bighorn No. 8 comes closest (moderate).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Canmore faces
What to do about the hazards Canmore faces, and what to ask before you buy.
- Clear needles and wood nearby.
- Keep a grab-and-go bag ready.
- In smoke, stay in; filter air.
- 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.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- How close is the forest edge?
- 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 Canmore sits in.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Canmore’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 Canmore floods.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Canmore, 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 Canmore
How is Canmore’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Canmore B, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is radon a problem in Canmore?
In Health Canada’s survey, 8.1% of 86 homes tested in Canmore’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Does Canmore flood?
Canmore’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
Is Canmore at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 4.5% of the land within 25 km of Canmore has burned since 1986, the last in 2024, a moderate band that leaves Risk alone.
How big is the earthquake risk in Canmore?
About $0.034 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Canmore.
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).