Photo: Tiado · CC BY-SA 3.0Claresholm’s hazards at a glance: a moderate wildfire record and 8.1% of area homes over the radon guideline
The burn rate around Claresholm is 0.13% a year (5.1% of the land within 25 km since 1986), a moderate band. Seismic risk in Claresholm sits near the middle: $0.046 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Hazard risk gives Claresholm a grade of B−; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Claresholm’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Claresholm: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Claresholm faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Claresholm: B−
Two inputs always count for Claresholm, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
Its place: #455 of 474 in Alberta and #1,607 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Some fire around Claresholm: 5.1% of the land within 25 km since 1986, 14% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Claresholm’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
At 0.13% of the land a year, Claresholm’s burn rate is moderate; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Forest makes up 0% of the land within 5 km of Claresholm and 0.1% 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
At 0.13% a year, Claresholm is near the top in Alberta: 21st of 478, behind Wainwright (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 Claresholm 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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Claresholm
Flood studies whose area touches Claresholm, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
No flood study on the national inventory covers Claresholm; ask the municipality, which is the authority for its flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Alberta, 46% of towns against 58% nationally, and Claresholm 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 Claresholm’s 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.”
Expected shaking damage in Claresholm: $0.046 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.
Nothing unusual about Claresholm’s ground: $0.046 against a typical $0.030, 1.5 times.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Alberta expects $0.013 a year; Claresholm expects $0.046, and Black Diamond $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.
In the upper part of Canada’s range: 31% of its 2,611 towns expect more damage than Claresholm.
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 Claresholm’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).
8.1% of homes tested around Claresholm are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Near the middle for radon: Claresholm’s area 8.1%, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The typical town in Alberta has 7.5% over 200 Bq/m³; Claresholm’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.
Claresholm is in the 5–10% band with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% have more.
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.
The share describes the area, not a house: in Claresholm as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests published for the Calgary Health Region, not by town
Weather and fire alerts for Claresholm
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Claresholm; 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 Claresholm, 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)
How Claresholm’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claresholm | Moderate | $0.046 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Willow Creek No. 26 6,225 · 10 km | Moderate | $0.038 | 8.9% | Yes |
Among its neighbours Claresholm has the most fire on record (moderate); Willow Creek No. 26 follows (moderate).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Claresholm faces
What to do about the hazards Claresholm 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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- 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 Claresholm sits in.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Claresholm’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Claresholm’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- 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 Claresholm floods.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Claresholm
Is radon a problem in Claresholm?
Around Claresholm, 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 Claresholm?
About $0.046 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Claresholm.
Does Claresholm flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Claresholm’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
How is Claresholm’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Claresholm’s Hazard risk grade is B−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is Claresholm at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 5.1% of the land around Claresholm since 1986 (last in 2021); at moderate, it neither helps nor hurts 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).