Photo: Unknown author Unknown author · Public domainDidsbury is on Canada’s flood inventory: 1 listed, led by Government of Alberta
No wildfire is mapped within 25 km of Didsbury’s homes since 1986 (0% of the land, 0.000% a year). NRCan expects $0.017 of shaking damage a year per $1,000 of buildings in Didsbury, near the typical $0.030. About as many homes carry radon around Didsbury as elsewhere, 8.1% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Didsbury a grade of A−, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Didsbury’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Didsbury: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Didsbury faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Didsbury grades A− for hazard risk
The grade weighs Didsbury’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
Its place: #259 of 474 in Alberta and #876 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Wildfire is rare near Didsbury: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Didsbury’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
In a typical year 0.000% of the land near Didsbury burns; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%, and both are low.
Around Didsbury the forest is thin or far off: 0% of the land within 5 km and 0.6% within 25 km is forest fuel.
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
Wainwright has the highest burn rate in Alberta, 1.43% a year; around Didsbury, as around 386 of the 478 towns, it rounds to 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.
Only 7.5% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are above the low band, which holds 92%; Didsbury, at a rounded zero, is far from them.
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 Didsbury, from Government of Alberta: 1 on the inventory
Flood studies whose area touches Didsbury, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
The flood study touching Didsbury is Government of Alberta’s, dated 2006; its own map shows the zones street by street.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Didsbury Flood Hazard Study | Government of Alberta | 2006 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Its flood study sets Didsbury 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 Didsbury’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.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
Ordinary seismic risk in Didsbury: $0.017 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.
Didsbury’s $0.017 is close to the typical town’s $0.030 (0.6 times as much).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Above the middle in Alberta: Didsbury’s $0.017 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.
Toward the quiet end of Canada’s range: 70% of its 2,611 towns sit above Didsbury.
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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Didsbury’s figure, nor landslides or tsunami: it is buildings and shaking.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Some radon around Didsbury: 8.1% of area homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
8.1% of tested homes around Didsbury were over the guideline, much like the typical Canadian town at 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The typical town in Alberta has 7.5% over 200 Bq/m³; Didsbury’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.
26% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have more homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Didsbury’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.
Basements, soil and how a house is sealed decide its radon, so in Didsbury only a test can say.
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 Didsbury
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Didsbury; 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. |
Smoke and fire warnings for Didsbury come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Didsbury
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Didsbury | Low | $0.017 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Carstairs 5,248 · 12 km | Low | $0.022 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Olds 9,653 · 15 km | Low | $0.019 | 7.5% | None listed |
| Mountain View County 14,802 · 17 km | Low | $0.018 | 8.1% | Yes |
Mountain View County burns a little more than Didsbury, in the same low band (low here).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Didsbury faces
What to do about the hazards Didsbury 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
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. The flood inventory points to maps; it is incomplete and not the official source, so ask the municipality about any street in Didsbury.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Didsbury takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Shaking damage is modelled from the ground, the buildings and the odds of each quake, and published for whole subdivisions such as Didsbury’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Didsbury’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Didsbury
Does Didsbury flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Didsbury; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
Is radon a problem in Didsbury?
Around Didsbury, 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 is Didsbury’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Didsbury A−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is Didsbury at risk of wildfire?
No meaningful wildfire history near Didsbury: 0% of nearby land since 1986, band low.
How big is the earthquake risk in Didsbury?
Expected earthquake damage in Didsbury comes to $0.017 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
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).