Photo: Bythelake10 · CC BY-SA 4.0Wildfire low, radon 8.1%: how Chestermere stands on hazards
For Chestermere, wildfire history is close to nil: 0% of nearby land since 1986, 0.000% a year. Seismic risk in Chestermere sits near the middle: $0.025 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Chestermere grades B+ for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Chestermere’s hazards
For Chestermere, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Chestermere faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Chestermere grades B+ for hazard risk
Seismic risk and radon set Chestermere’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
Its place: #437 of 474 in Alberta and #1,367 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 Chestermere has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Chestermere’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Low: the land around Chestermere burns at 0.000% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
The closest burn since 1986 lies 23 km from Chestermere’s homes, none within 5 km.
With 0% forest fuel within 5 km and 0.2% within 25 km, the land around Chestermere 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
Among the 478 towns in Alberta, Wainwright burns fastest (1.43% a year); Chestermere 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.
The low band holds 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, and Chestermere sits at its very bottom; only 7.5% are above it.
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 Chestermere
Flood studies whose area touches Chestermere, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
NRCan’s inventory is silent on Chestermere, so any flood map would be the municipality’s own.
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 46% of towns in Alberta have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%, and Chestermere is not among them.
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 Chestermere’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.”
Ordinary seismic risk in Chestermere: $0.025 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.
Nothing unusual about Chestermere’s ground: $0.025 against a typical $0.030, 0.8 times.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in Alberta peaks in Black Diamond ($0.048); Chestermere, at $0.025, sits above the median of $0.013.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Chestermere sits mid-range among Canada’s 2,611 towns: 53% 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).
For Chestermere 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 Chestermere: 8.1% over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Area-wide: radon tests, counted over the Calgary Health Region
Chestermere’s area sits close to the typical Canadian town: 8.1% over the guideline, against 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon around Chestermere 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.
37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns share Chestermere’s band of 5 to 10%; 26% sit 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.
Health Canada advises testing every home, Chestermere’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Chestermere
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Chestermere; 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 Chestermere, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Chestermere’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chestermere | Low | $0.025 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Abbeydale 6,561 · 7.4 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Applewood Park 6,835 · 7.5 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Penbrooke Meadows 10,001 · 8.7 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Monterey Park 10,363 · 8.9 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Marlborough Park 8,378 · 9.0 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Pineridge 10,062 · 9.2 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
Chestermere’s low band tops its neighbours; Abbeydale is next (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Chestermere faces
Practical steps for Chestermere’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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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 Chestermere.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Chestermere’s included.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Chestermere is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Wildfire counts one way. Burned land within 25 km of where people live, averaged over 1986–2025 and checked for fuel near homes, is the measure; it looks back, not ahead, and only ever counts against Chestermere.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Chestermere
How big is the earthquake risk in Chestermere?
Expected earthquake damage in Chestermere comes to $0.025 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
How is Chestermere’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Chestermere grades B+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Does Chestermere flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Chestermere (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
Is Chestermere at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Chestermere’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2013), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Is radon a problem in Chestermere?
8.1% of the 86 homes Health Canada tested around Chestermere topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
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).