Bannerman faces fewer hazards than 98% of Canadian towns
Wildfire isn’t Bannerman’s worry: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (0.000% a year). Seismic risk runs low: $0.013 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Fewer homes than usual carry radon here, 1.4% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Bannerman a grade of A+; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Bannerman’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Bannerman: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Bannerman faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Bannerman grades A+ for hazard risk
Earthquake risk and radon make Bannerman’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
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. Only 73 homes were tested in the survey area, so the radon share is rough. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Wildfire is rare near Bannerman: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Bannerman’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Next to the typical Canadian town (0.000% a year), Bannerman’s 0.000% is in the low band.
Around Bannerman the forest is thin or far off: 0.1% of the land within 5 km and 0.3% 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
To three decimals the burn rate around Bannerman 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.
The low band holds 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, and Bannerman sits at its very bottom; only 7.5% are 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.
A flood study covers Bannerman, from Government of Alberta: 1 on the inventory
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Bannerman: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
One study on the inventory touches Bannerman, Government of Alberta’s from 2024, and its area can be large, so it says a map exists, not that the town floods.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| North Saskatchewan River Flood Study | Government of Alberta | 2024 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Alberta, 46% of towns against 58% nationally, but Bannerman has one.
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 Bannerman’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 Bannerman just $0.013 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.013 per $1,000, Bannerman carries 0.4 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030): low.
For earthquake risk, the only official count covers all of the city of Edmonton, Bannerman included.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Typical for its province: Bannerman 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 Bannerman.
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).
The model counts damage to Bannerman’s buildings and their occupants from shaking only: not liquefaction, landslides, tsunami or fires after a quake.
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 Bannerman are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Where the typical Canadian town has 6.6% of homes over the guideline, Bannerman’s area has fewer, 1.4%. Bannerman doesn’t get its own radon tests figures; the ones here come from the Capital Health.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Against the typical town in Alberta (7.5%), the area around Bannerman has fewer high tests: 1.4%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Under 5% puts Bannerman with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 63% have more high tests.
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.
One home in Bannerman can be high while next door is low; a three-month test settles it.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Bannerman
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Bannerman; 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 Bannerman, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Bannerman
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bannerman | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | Yes |
| Fraser 3,973 · 0.9 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | Yes |
| Kirkness 5,279 · 1.0 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Kernohan 3,020 · 1.1 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | Yes |
| Belmont 5,299 · 1.5 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | Yes |
| Clareview Town Centre 3,800 · 1.6 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Miller 3,294 · 1.9 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
Among its neighbours Bannerman has the most fire on record (low); Fraser follows (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Bannerman faces
Practical steps for Bannerman’s hazards, most pressing first.
- 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
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Bannerman takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- 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 Bannerman.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Bannerman’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- 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 Bannerman’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Bannerman
How is Bannerman’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Bannerman’s Hazard risk grade is A+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Does Bannerman flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Bannerman; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Bannerman?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Bannerman’s buildings lose $0.013 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is Bannerman at risk of wildfire?
Hardly at all on record: 0% of the land within 25 km of Bannerman since 1986, a low band, though small grass fires aren’t mapped.
Is radon a problem in Bannerman?
1.4% of the 73 homes Health Canada tested around Bannerman topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
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).