Photo: Kiyoteru Awaji · CC BY-SA 4.0Few places are as safe from hazards as Allard: it beats 98% of Canadian towns
Fire has left almost no mark near Allard: 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. Shaking is less of a worry than in most places, at $0.013 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Radon is lower than usual: 1.4% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Allard a grade of A+; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Allard’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Allard: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Allard faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Allard: A+
The grade weighs Allard’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: #11 of 474 in Alberta and #22 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The radon share rests on 73 home tests in the survey area, so a few homes move it. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Wildfire is rare near Allard: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Allard’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The yearly burn rate around Allard is 0.000%, low beside 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Fire has stayed at least 20 km from Allard’s homes since 1986.
Land that isn’t forest covers nearly all the ground around Allard: forest fuel is 0.6% within 5 km and 0.4% 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
To three decimals the burn rate around Allard is zero, as for 386 of the 478 towns in Alberta, while Wainwright reaches 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.
Like most of Canada’s 2,610 towns (92%), Allard is in the low band, with a burn rate of zero to three decimals; 7.5% 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.
A flood study covers Allard, from Government of Alberta: 1 on the inventory
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Allard: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The flood study touching Allard is Government of Alberta’s, dated 2014; its own map shows the zones street by street.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nisku Flood Hazard Study | Government of Alberta | 2014 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Allard is one of the 46% of towns in Alberta with a flood study on file, fewer than Canada’s 58%.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Allard’s homes are at risk.
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.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Allard just $0.013 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
0.4 times the typical $0.030: Allard’s $0.013 is low for Canada.
Figures for earthquake risk are published for the city of Edmonton as a whole, not for Allard alone.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Typical for its province: Allard at $0.013 beside a median in Alberta of $0.013, with Black Diamond on top 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.
Most of Canada’s 2,611 towns (75%) face more earthquake damage than Allard.
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 Allard’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).
1.4% of homes tested around Allard are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
At 1.4% over the guideline, the area around Allard is under the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs lower around Allard than in most towns in Alberta: 1.4% against 7.5%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
The quietest radon band, under 5%, holds 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns and Allard; 63% sit 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.
The share describes the area, not a house: in Allard as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests: one figure for all of the Capital Health
Weather and fire alerts for Allard
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Allard; 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. |
In fire season, check CWFIS for danger and active fires around Allard, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Allard
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Allard | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | Yes |
| Callaghan 4,180 · 0.9 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Rutherford 12,808 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Paisley 2,897 · 2.0 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Chappelle 14,815 · 2.5 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | Yes |
| Cavanagh 7,300 · 2.9 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | Yes |
| MacEwan 6,102 · 3.4 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
The neighbour with the most fire is Callaghan (low), still no more than Allard (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Allard faces
What to do about the hazards Allard 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. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Allard’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- 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 Allard floods.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Allard’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- 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 Allard sits in.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Allard
How is Allard’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Allard’s Hazard risk grade is A+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is Allard at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Allard since 1986 (last in 2023); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
Does Allard flood?
Allard’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
How big is the earthquake risk in Allard?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Allard $0.013 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is radon a problem in Allard?
Around Allard, 73 survey homes were tested and 1.4% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
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).