Photo: Mack Male from Edmonton, AB, Canada · CC BY-SA 2.0Hazard risk in Ambleside is lower than in 98% of Canadian towns
For Ambleside, wildfire history is close to nil: 0% of nearby land 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). In Health Canada’s survey, just 1.4% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Hazard risk gives Ambleside a grade of A+; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Ambleside’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Ambleside: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Ambleside faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Ambleside: A+
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Ambleside with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #11 of 474 in Alberta and #22 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. 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.
Little of the land around Ambleside has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Ambleside’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
With 0.000% burned a year, Ambleside is among the many low-band places (the typical Canadian town 0.000%).
Fire has stayed at least 17 km from Ambleside’s homes since 1986.
Forest fuel is scarce around Ambleside: 1.3% of the land within 5 km, 0.5% 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
Near-zero burning puts Ambleside with 386 of the 478 towns in Alberta, far below Wainwright at 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.
92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are in the low band and 7.5% above it; Ambleside is among the many where the yearly burn rate rounds to zero.
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 Ambleside
Flood studies whose area touches Ambleside, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
NRCan’s inventory is silent on Ambleside, so any flood map would be the municipality’s own.
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Alberta, 46% of towns against 58% nationally, and Ambleside has none.
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 Ambleside 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.”
Low seismic risk in Ambleside: $0.013 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.
Ambleside’s $0.013 is a fraction of the typical town’s $0.030 (0.4 times as much): quiet ground by Canadian standards.
Behind earthquake risk sits data gathered across the city of Edmonton, with Ambleside one part of it.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Typical for its province: Ambleside 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 Ambleside.
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 Ambleside’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 Ambleside are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
A lower share than most: 1.4% of tested homes around Ambleside, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Ambleside’s area, at 1.4%, is below 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.
Radon rarely tops the guideline around Ambleside, as for 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 63% see 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.
The survey sampled homes around Ambleside; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Data for radon tests covers the Capital Health
Weather and fire alerts for Ambleside
Alerts for Ambleside 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. |
Evacuation orders for Ambleside come from the municipality or the province, while CWFIS maps fire danger every day.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Ambleside
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ambleside | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Glenridding Heights 4,388 · 1.0 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Windermere 14,922 · 1.2 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | Yes |
| Keswick 3,957 · 1.8 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | Yes |
| South Terwillegar 8,183 · 1.9 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Terwillegar Towne 6,478 · 2.7 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Haddow 4,026 · 2.8 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | Yes |
Nowhere around Ambleside burns more: Glenridding Heights, 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 Ambleside faces
What to do about the hazards Ambleside 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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Ambleside takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Ambleside’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- 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 Ambleside.
- 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 Ambleside’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Ambleside
How big is the earthquake risk in Ambleside?
About $0.013 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Ambleside.
Is Ambleside at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0% of the land within 25 km of Ambleside has burned since 1986, the last in 2023, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
Does Ambleside flood?
Nothing is listed for Ambleside on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
Is radon a problem in Ambleside?
In Health Canada’s survey, 1.4% of 73 homes tested in Ambleside’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
How is Ambleside’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Ambleside’s Hazard risk grade is A+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
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).