Photo: Joseph Fred Spalding · Public domainFlood mapping exists for Crowsnest Pass: 1 on record, latest by Government of Alberta
The burn rate around Crowsnest Pass is 0.20% a year (7.8% of the land within 25 km since 1986), a moderate band. NRCan expects $0.034 of shaking damage a year per $1,000 of buildings in Crowsnest Pass, near the typical $0.030. Radon around Crowsnest Pass is ordinary for Canada: 8.9% of tested homes over the guideline (6.6% typical). Hazard risk gives Crowsnest Pass a grade of B−; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Crowsnest Pass’s hazards
For Crowsnest Pass, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Crowsnest Pass faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Crowsnest Pass grades B− for hazard risk
The grade weighs Crowsnest Pass’ seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
Its place: #457 of 474 in Alberta and #1,668 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.
Some fire around Crowsnest Pass: 7.8% of the land within 25 km since 1986, 10% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Crowsnest Pass’ residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
The yearly burn rate around Crowsnest Pass is 0.20%, above 0.000% for the typical Canadian town but under the high band.
More forest grows near Crowsnest Pass’ homes (53% within 5 km) than across 25 km (37%).
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 0.20% a year, Crowsnest Pass is near the top in Alberta: 16th 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.
Only 5.4% of Canada’s 2,610 towns share the moderate band with Crowsnest Pass, and 2.1% sit 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.
Government of Alberta has mapped flooding for Crowsnest Pass (1 study)
Flood studies whose area touches Crowsnest Pass, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
The flood study touching Crowsnest Pass is Government of Alberta’s, dated 2007; its own map shows the zones street by street.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crowsnest Pass Flood Hazard Study | Government of Alberta | 2007 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Its flood study sets Crowsnest Pass 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.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Crowsnest Pass’ 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.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
Ordinary seismic risk in Crowsnest Pass: $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.
Crowsnest Pass’ $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
The typical town in Alberta expects $0.013 a year; Crowsnest Pass expects $0.034, 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.
Crowsnest Pass sits mid-range among Canada’s 2,611 towns: 46% 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).
What a quake does after the shaking, fire, landslides, tsunami, falls outside NRCan’s figure for Crowsnest Pass.
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 Crowsnest Pass: 8.9% over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Around Crowsnest Pass, 8.9% of tested homes topped the guideline, near the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. Crowsnest Pass shares its radon tests numbers with the rest of the Chinook Regional Health Authority.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Crowsnest Pass, 8.9% of tests topped the guideline, close to the typical town in Alberta (7.5%); 0.9% were over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Crowsnest Pass 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.
Health Canada advises testing every home, Crowsnest Pass’ included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Crowsnest Pass
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Crowsnest Pass; 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 Crowsnest Pass, 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)
Get ready for what Crowsnest Pass faces
What to do about the hazards Crowsnest Pass 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
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Crowsnest Pass’ included.
- 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 Crowsnest Pass.
- 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 Crowsnest Pass.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Crowsnest Pass is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Crowsnest Pass
Is Crowsnest Pass at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 7.8% of the land within 25 km of Crowsnest Pass has burned since 1986, the last in 2018, a moderate band that leaves Risk alone.
Does Crowsnest Pass flood?
There is flood mapping for Crowsnest Pass on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
How big is the earthquake risk in Crowsnest Pass?
About $0.034 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Crowsnest Pass.
Is radon a problem in Crowsnest Pass?
In Health Canada’s survey, 8.9% of 112 homes tested in Crowsnest Pass’ area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
How is Crowsnest Pass’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Crowsnest Pass grades B− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers 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).