Few places are as safe from hazards as Casselman: it beats 98% of Canadian towns
Wildfire barely registers for Casselman, at 0% of the land 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. In Health Canada’s survey, just 1.4% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Hazard risk gives Casselman a grade of A+; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Casselman’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Casselman: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Casselman faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Casselman: A+
Seismic risk and radon set Casselman’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of 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. 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.
Few fires near Casselman: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Past fire around Casselman’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Low: the land around Casselman burns at 0.000% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Forest makes up 0.1% of the land within 5 km of Casselman and 0.3% within 25 km, little for a forest fire to run through.
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 Casselman 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.
Like most of Canada’s 2,610 towns (92%), Casselman 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.
No flood study is listed for Casselman
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Casselman: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
No flood study on the national inventory covers Casselman; ask the municipality, which is the authority for its flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Alberta, 46% of towns against 58% nationally, and Casselman has none.
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 Casselman’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.”
Earthquakes cost buildings in Casselman 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, Casselman carries 0.4 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030): low.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Typical for its province: Casselman 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.
Toward the quiet end of Canada’s range: 75% of its 2,611 towns sit above Casselman.
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 loss is to Casselman’s buildings alone, from ground shaking; infrastructure and secondary hazards are left out.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean). · Earthquake risk: the city of Edmonton
Little radon around Casselman: 1.4% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Radon tests for the Capital Health
Casselman’s area, at 1.4%, is below the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town, though any one home can still be high.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Casselman’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.
Few tests over the guideline: Casselman shares the bottom band with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, below the other 63%.
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 Casselman as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Casselman
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Casselman; 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. |
For fires near Casselman, the national fire information system maps danger and active fires daily; local authorities give any evacuation order.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Casselman’s neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Casselman | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Hollick-Kenyon 6,451 · 1.1 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| York 4,030 · 1.1 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Matt Berry 4,093 · 1.1 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Miller 3,294 · 1.2 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Brintnell 6,658 · 1.5 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Clareview Town Centre 3,800 · 1.8 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
Among its neighbours Casselman has the most fire on record (low); Hollick-Kenyon follows (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Casselman faces
Practical steps for Casselman’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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Casselman 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 Casselman.
- 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 Casselman’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Casselman’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Casselman
Does Casselman flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Casselman (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
How is Casselman’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Casselman’s Hazard risk grade is A+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is radon a problem in Casselman?
1.4% of the 73 homes Health Canada tested around Casselman topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How big is the earthquake risk in Casselman?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Casselman’s buildings lose $0.013 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is Casselman at risk of wildfire?
Very little by the national record: Casselman’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
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).