Photo: Cherry2207 · CC BY 4.0Few places are as safe from hazards as Chappelle: it beats 98% of Canadian towns
Wildfire isn’t Chappelle’s worry: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (0.000% a year). Earthquakes matter little: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.013 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Fewer homes than usual carry radon here, 1.4% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Chappelle grades A+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Chappelle’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Chappelle: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Chappelle faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Chappelle: A+
For Chappelle, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
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. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Few fires near Chappelle: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Chappelle’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Next to the typical Canadian town (0.000% a year), Chappelle’s 0.000% is in the low band.
Nothing inside 5 km of Chappelle’s homes has burned since 1986, and the nearest scar is 15 km off.
Forest fuel is scarce around Chappelle: 0.6% 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
Of the 478 towns in Alberta, 386 have a burn rate that rounds to zero, Chappelle among them; Wainwright leads at 1.43% a year.
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%), Chappelle 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.
Chappelle is on the flood map inventory: 2 studies, latest by Government of Alberta
Flood studies whose area touches Chappelle, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
The newest of 2 studies covering Chappelle is Government of Alberta’s, from 2024; open its map to see the zones.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| North Saskatchewan River Flood Study | Government of Alberta | 2024 | final |
| Nisku Flood Hazard Study | Government of Alberta | 2014 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Alberta reaches 46% of towns, Chappelle among them, below the 58% across Canada.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
The 2 studies touching Chappelle are spread over time, from the 2010s to the 2020s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Chappelle.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Chappelle.
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 Chappelle: $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.
At $0.013 per $1,000, Chappelle carries 0.4 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030): low.
Figures for earthquake risk are published for the city of Edmonton as a whole, not for Chappelle alone.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
About level with the typical town in Alberta: Chappelle’s $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.
Earthquakes cost less around Chappelle than in 75% of Canada’s 2,611 towns.
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 Chappelle’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).
Radon runs low around Chappelle: 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.
Radon runs below the typical Canadian town (6.6%) in Chappelle’s area, at 1.4%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs lower around Chappelle than in most towns in Alberta: 1.4% against 7.5%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
63% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have a higher share of homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Chappelle’s band, which holds 37%.
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 Chappelle 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). · Not measured by town: radon tests (the Capital Health)
Weather and fire alerts for Chappelle
Alerts for Chappelle 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. |
Fire danger and active fires near Chappelle are mapped daily by the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System; evacuation orders come from the municipality or province.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Chappelle’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chappelle | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | Yes |
| Paisley 2,897 · 2.0 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Allard 8,148 · 2.5 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | Yes |
| Glenridding Heights 4,388 · 2.8 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Callaghan 4,180 · 3.1 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Rutherford 12,808 · 3.4 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Ambleside 7,733 · 3.9 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
Fire is no heavier anywhere nearby than around Chappelle (low), with Paisley next at low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Chappelle faces
Practical steps for Chappelle’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
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Chappelle’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 Chappelle’s.
- 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 Chappelle sits in.
- 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 Chappelle floods.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Chappelle
Is radon a problem in Chappelle?
1.4% of the 73 homes Health Canada tested around Chappelle topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
Is Chappelle at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Chappelle’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2023), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Does Chappelle flood?
Chappelle’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
How is Chappelle’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Chappelle’s Hazard risk grade is A+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
How big is the earthquake risk in Chappelle?
Expected earthquake damage in Chappelle comes to $0.013 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
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).