Photo: Thank you for visiting my page from Canada · CC BY 2.0A flood study covers Cochrane: 1 on the national inventory, the newest from Government of Alberta
Burn scars are few around Cochrane, with 0.1% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.003% a year). Shaking is about as much of a worry in Cochrane as in most places, at $0.025 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). About as many homes carry radon around Cochrane as elsewhere, 8.1% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Cochrane grades B+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Cochrane’s hazards
For Cochrane, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Cochrane faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Cochrane: B+
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Cochrane with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #437 of 474 in Alberta and #1,367 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.
Little of the land around Cochrane has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0.1% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Cochrane’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
The land within 25 km of Cochrane burns at 0.003% a year on average, the low band; the typical Canadian town: 0.000%.
The forest starts beyond town: 1.3% of the land within 5 km of Cochrane’s homes is forest fuel, against 17% 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
Cochrane ranks 71st of the 478 towns in Alberta for burn rate, at 0.003% 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.
Cochrane is in the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns; 7.5% sit in moderate or 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.
A flood study covers Cochrane, from Government of Alberta: 1 on the inventory
Flood studies whose area touches Cochrane, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Government of Alberta holds the flood mapping that covers Cochrane (2024), linked below.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Upper Bow River Flood Study | Government of Alberta | 2024 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Alberta, 46% of towns against 58% nationally, but Cochrane has one.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Cochrane floods.
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 Cochrane: $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.
With $0.025 of shaking damage a year per $1,000, Cochrane is about even with the typical $0.030 (0.8 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Alberta expects $0.013 a year; Cochrane expects $0.025, 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.
Cochrane’s earthquake risk lands near the centre of Canada’s range; 53% of the 2,611 towns are higher.
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 Cochrane 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).
8.1% of homes tested around Cochrane are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Cochrane’s area, at 8.1%, is close to the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Cochrane’s area, at 8.1%, is close to the median in Alberta (7.5%).
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
26% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have more homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Cochrane’s 5–10% band, which holds 37%.
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 Cochrane 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). · Radon tests: the Calgary Health Region
Where to get warnings in Cochrane
Alerts for Cochrane come from Environment and Climate Change Canada and, for emergencies, Alert Ready.
| 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. |
Fire danger and active fires near Cochrane are mapped daily by the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System; evacuation orders come from the municipality or province.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Cochrane’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cochrane | Low | $0.025 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Rocky View County 50,260 · 15 km | Low | $0.024 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Rocky Ridge 8,419 · 17 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Tuscany 19,986 · 17 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Royal Oak 12,343 · 18 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Valley Ridge 7,782 · 18 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
Nowhere around Cochrane burns more: Rocky View County, the closest rival, is low to its low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Cochrane faces
What to do about the hazards Cochrane 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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Cochrane’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Cochrane without grading them.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Cochrane, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- Radon is a survey. Radon figures pool the survey’s home tests by area: postal areas once their boundaries arrive, the 2007 health region around Cochrane until then.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Cochrane
Is Cochrane at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0.1% of the land within 25 km of Cochrane has burned since 1986, the last in 2021, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
How big is the earthquake risk in Cochrane?
Expected earthquake damage in Cochrane comes to $0.025 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is radon a problem in Cochrane?
In Health Canada’s survey, 8.1% of 86 homes tested in Cochrane’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
How is Cochrane’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Cochrane B+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Does Cochrane flood?
A flood study covers Cochrane on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
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).