Photo: Qyd · CC BY 2.5Drayton Valley’s hazards at a glance: a moderate wildfire record and 7.5% of area homes over the radon guideline
Wildfire is a moderate presence around Drayton Valley: 3.3% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, 0.08% a year, short of the band that counts against Risk. Seismic risk runs low: $0.013 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Hazard risk gives Drayton Valley a grade of A−; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Drayton Valley’s hazards
For Drayton Valley, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Drayton Valley faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Drayton Valley: A−
For Drayton Valley, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
Its place: #237 of 474 in Alberta and #647 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.
A moderate wildfire record for Drayton Valley: 3.3% within 25 km burned, 17% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Drayton Valley’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
The yearly burn rate around Drayton Valley is 0.08%, above 0.000% for the typical Canadian town but under the high band.
Forest fuel covers 14% of the land close to Drayton Valley and 31% across 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
Drayton Valley ranks 27th of the 478 towns in Alberta for burn rate, at 0.08% 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.
Drayton Valley is in the moderate band, which holds 5.4% of Canada’s 2,610 towns; 2.1% rank 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.
No flood study is listed for Drayton Valley
Flood studies whose area touches Drayton Valley, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
An empty entry for Drayton Valley on the inventory isn’t proof of safety; ask locally for flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Drayton Valley has no flood study on file; only 46% of towns in Alberta do, against 58% across Canada.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Nothing here counts toward Risk; the studies are pointers to the maps their owners keep for Drayton Valley.
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.”
Little shaking expected in Drayton Valley: $0.013 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.
Shaking costs the typical town $0.030 a year; in Drayton Valley it is only $0.013, 0.4 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Drayton Valley’s $0.013 is close to the median in Alberta, $0.013; Black Diamond is 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.
75% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Drayton Valley.
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 Drayton Valley.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
7.5% of homes tested around Drayton Valley are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
At 7.5% over the guideline, the area around Drayton Valley is about level with the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Drayton Valley’s area, at 7.5%, 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.
Between 5% and 10% of tests over the guideline: Drayton Valley, and 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% are 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.
Radon varies from house to house in Drayton Valley, so the survey is a reason to test, not a result for yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Area behind the radon tests figures: the David Thompson Regional Health Authority
Where to get warnings in Drayton Valley
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Drayton Valley; 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 Drayton Valley come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Drayton Valley’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drayton Valley | Moderate | $0.013 | 7.5% | None listed |
| Brazeau County 7,685 · 2.0 km | Moderate | $0.013 | 7.5% | None listed |
Among its neighbours Drayton Valley has the most fire on record (moderate); Brazeau County follows (moderate).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Drayton Valley faces
Practical steps for Drayton Valley’s hazards, most pressing first.
- 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
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Drayton Valley’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Drayton Valley is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- 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 Drayton Valley.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Drayton Valley, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Drayton Valley
How is Drayton Valley’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Drayton Valley’s Hazard risk grade is A−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is Drayton Valley at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Drayton Valley’s moderate band (3.3% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2025) is short of the level that counts.
Is radon a problem in Drayton Valley?
The area’s survey found 7.5% of 107 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Drayton Valley.
Does Drayton Valley flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Drayton Valley, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
How big is the earthquake risk in Drayton Valley?
About $0.013 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Drayton Valley.
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).