Few places are as safe from hazards as Charlesworth: it beats 98% of Canadian towns
Since 1986 almost nothing has burned near Charlesworth: 0% of the land within 25 km, or 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). Charlesworth grades A+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Charlesworth’s hazards
For Charlesworth, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Charlesworth faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Charlesworth grades A+ for hazard risk
Seismic risk and radon set Charlesworth’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: 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.
Few fires near Charlesworth: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Charlesworth’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Fire claims 0.000% of the land around Charlesworth each year, a low band, with the typical Canadian town at 0.000%.
Forest fuel is scarce around Charlesworth: 0% of the land within 5 km, 0.3% 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
Near-zero burning puts Charlesworth 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.
Most of the country’s 2,610 towns are low-band (92%, against 7.5% above); around Charlesworth, burning rounds to zero.
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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Charlesworth
Flood studies whose area touches Charlesworth, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
No flood study on the national inventory covers Charlesworth; ask the municipality, which is the authority for its flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Charlesworth has no flood study on file; only 46% of towns in Alberta do, against 58% across Canada.
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 Charlesworth’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.”
Little shaking expected in Charlesworth: $0.013 a year per $1,000
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Shaking costs the typical town $0.030 a year; in Charlesworth it is only $0.013, 0.4 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk around Charlesworth ($0.013) matches the middle in Alberta ($0.013), far from Black Diamond’s $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 Charlesworth.
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 Charlesworth.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean). · Not measured by town: earthquake risk (the city of Edmonton)
1.4% of homes tested around Charlesworth are over the radon 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
Fewer homes than usual test high around Charlesworth: 1.4% against 6.6% for the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Fewer homes top the guideline around Charlesworth (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.
Under 5% puts Charlesworth 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.
Whatever Charlesworth’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 Charlesworth
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Charlesworth; 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. |
Smoke and fire warnings for Charlesworth come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Charlesworth’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charlesworth | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Walker 13,388 · 0.9 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Anthony Henday South East 4,960 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Sakaw 3,453 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Ellerslie 5,963 · 1.9 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Crawford Plains 3,075 · 2.3 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Summerside 16,760 · 2.5 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
Fire is no heavier anywhere nearby than around Charlesworth (low), with Walker next at low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Charlesworth faces
Practical steps for Charlesworth’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
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Charlesworth’s included.
- 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 Charlesworth floods.
- 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 Charlesworth.
- 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 Charlesworth sits in.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Charlesworth
How big is the earthquake risk in Charlesworth?
Expected earthquake damage in Charlesworth comes to $0.013 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is Charlesworth at risk of wildfire?
Very little by the national record: Charlesworth’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
How is Charlesworth’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Charlesworth’s Hazard risk grade is A+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Does Charlesworth flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Charlesworth, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
Is radon a problem in Charlesworth?
The area’s survey found 1.4% of 73 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Charlesworth.
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).