Photo: Khoshhat · CC BY-SA 4.0Cavanagh faces fewer hazards than 98% of Canadian towns
No wildfire is mapped within 25 km of Cavanagh’s homes since 1986 (0% of the land, 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). Fewer homes than usual carry radon here, 1.4% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Cavanagh a grade of A+; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Cavanagh’s hazards
For Cavanagh, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Cavanagh faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Cavanagh: A+
Two inputs always count for Cavanagh, 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. Only 73 homes were tested in the survey area, so the radon share is rough. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Wildfire is rare near Cavanagh: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Cavanagh’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Cavanagh burns at 0.000% a year, low against 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Fire has stayed at least 22 km from Cavanagh’s homes since 1986.
Only 0.5% of the land within 25 km of Cavanagh is forest fuel, and 0.7% close in.
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
Little or nothing burns around Cavanagh in a typical year; 386 of the 478 towns in Alberta share that, and Wainwright leads 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.
The low band holds 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, and Cavanagh 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 Cavanagh, from Government of Alberta: 1 on the inventory
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Cavanagh: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The flood study touching Cavanagh 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
Cavanagh 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 Cavanagh’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 Cavanagh 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: Cavanagh’s $0.013 is low for Canada.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The median in Alberta is $0.013; Cavanagh, at $0.013, is right beside it, and Black Diamond tops the list 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 Cavanagh.
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).
For Cavanagh the model prices shaking damage to buildings, nothing more.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean). · Earthquake risk: one figure for all of the city of Edmonton
Little radon around Cavanagh: 1.4% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Measured across the Capital Health: radon tests
Radon runs below the typical Canadian town (6.6%) in Cavanagh’s area, at 1.4%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Cavanagh’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.
The quietest radon band, under 5%, holds 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns and Cavanagh; 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.
Whatever Cavanagh’s area share, the reading that matters is your own home’s, over a winter.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Cavanagh
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Cavanagh; 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 Cavanagh, 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 Cavanagh’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cavanagh | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | Yes |
| Rutherford 12,808 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| MacEwan 6,102 · 1.5 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Callaghan 4,180 · 2.0 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Twin Brooks 5,102 · 2.2 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Bearspaw 5,192 · 2.5 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Allard 8,148 · 2.9 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | Yes |
Cavanagh’s low band tops its neighbours; Rutherford is next (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Cavanagh faces
What to do about the hazards Cavanagh 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
- Wildfire counts one way. For Cavanagh, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Cavanagh without grading them.
- Radon is a survey. Radon figures pool the survey’s home tests by area: postal areas once their boundaries arrive, the 2007 health region around Cavanagh until then.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Cavanagh’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
Questions about flooding and hazards in Cavanagh
Does Cavanagh flood?
A flood study covers Cavanagh on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
Is Cavanagh at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Cavanagh since 1986 (last in 2023); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How is Cavanagh’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Cavanagh’s Hazard risk grade is A+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is radon a problem in Cavanagh?
Around Cavanagh, 73 survey homes were tested and 1.4% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How big is the earthquake risk in Cavanagh?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Cavanagh’s buildings lose $0.013 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
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).