Hazard risk in Bulyea Heights is lower than in 98% of Canadian towns
The burned-area map is nearly blank around Bulyea Heights, 0% within 25 km 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. 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 Bulyea Heights a grade of A+; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Bulyea Heights’s hazards
For Bulyea Heights, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Bulyea Heights faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Bulyea Heights grades A+ for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Bulyea Heights, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
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. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Wildfire is rare near Bulyea Heights: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Bulyea Heights’ residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Low: the land around Bulyea Heights burns at 0.000% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Since 1986 the nearest fire to Bulyea Heights’ homes came within 21 km, never inside 5 km.
Land that isn’t forest covers nearly all the ground around Bulyea Heights: forest fuel is 1.3% within 5 km and 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
Among the 478 towns in Alberta, Wainwright burns fastest (1.43% a year); Bulyea Heights is with the 386 near 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%; Bulyea Heights, 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 Bulyea Heights, from Government of Alberta: 1 on the inventory
Flood studies whose area touches Bulyea Heights, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Government of Alberta holds the flood mapping that covers Bulyea Heights (2024), linked below.
| 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 Bulyea Heights has one.
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 Bulyea Heights 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.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
Low seismic risk in Bulyea Heights: $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.
0.4 times the typical $0.030: Bulyea Heights’ $0.013 is low for Canada.
Nobody publishes earthquake risk for Bulyea Heights alone, so this card uses the figure for the city of Edmonton.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
About level with the typical town in Alberta: Bulyea Heights’ $0.013 against $0.013; Black Diamond reaches $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.
Bulyea Heights is in the lower part of Canada’s range for earthquake risk; 75% of the 2,611 towns are higher.
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 Bulyea Heights.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Radon runs low around Bulyea Heights: 1.4% of tested homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Area-wide: radon tests, counted over the Capital Health
Radon runs below the typical Canadian town (6.6%) in Bulyea Heights’ area, at 1.4%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Fewer homes top the guideline around Bulyea Heights (1.4%) than in the typical town in Alberta (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 Bulyea Heights; 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.
A low area share in Bulyea Heights doesn’t clear a house, nor does a high one condemn it: test.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Bulyea Heights
Alerts for Bulyea Heights 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 Bulyea Heights 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)
How Bulyea Heights’ neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bulyea Heights | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | Yes |
| Brookside 3,173 · 1.2 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | Yes |
| Westbrook Estates 2,838 · 1.4 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | Yes |
| Ramsay Heights 3,434 · 1.6 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | Yes |
| Rhatigan Ridge 7,066 · 1.9 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | Yes |
| Leger 4,108 · 2.0 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Ogilvie Ridge 5,218 · 2.0 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | Yes |
The neighbour with the most fire is Brookside (low), still no more than Bulyea Heights (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Bulyea Heights faces
What to do about the hazards Bulyea Heights 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. 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 Bulyea Heights floods.
- 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 Bulyea Heights sits in.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Bulyea Heights’ included.
- Wildfire counts one way. Burned land within 25 km of where people live, averaged over 1986–2025 and checked for fuel near homes, is the measure; it looks back, not ahead, and only ever counts against Bulyea Heights.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Bulyea Heights
How big is the earthquake risk in Bulyea Heights?
Expected earthquake damage in Bulyea Heights comes to $0.013 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is radon a problem in Bulyea Heights?
Around Bulyea Heights, 73 survey homes were tested and 1.4% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Is Bulyea Heights at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Bulyea Heights since 1986 (last in 2023); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How is Bulyea Heights’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Bulyea Heights grades A+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Does Bulyea Heights flood?
Bulyea Heights’ area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
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).