Crawford Plains faces fewer hazards than 98% of Canadian towns
Since 1986 almost nothing has burned near Crawford Plains: 0% of the land within 25 km, or 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%. Crawford Plains grades A+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Crawford Plains’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Crawford Plains: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Crawford Plains faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Crawford Plains grades A+ for hazard risk
For Crawford Plains, 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: 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.
Wildfire is rare near Crawford Plains: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Crawford Plains’ homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The land within 25 km of Crawford Plains burns at 0.000% a year on average, the low band; the typical Canadian town: 0.000%.
Around Crawford Plains the forest is thin or far off: 0% of the land within 5 km and 0.3% within 25 km is forest fuel.
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 Crawford Plains 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.
Only 7.5% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are above the low band, which holds 92%; Crawford Plains, 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.
No flood study is listed for Crawford Plains
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Crawford Plains: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
There is no study for Crawford Plains on the national flood inventory, which is far from complete.
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 46% of towns in Alberta have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%, and Crawford Plains is not among them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood mapping is shown for Crawford Plains to be opened and checked, never turned into a grade.
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 Crawford Plains just $0.013 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Shaking costs the typical town $0.030 a year; in Crawford Plains it is only $0.013, 0.4 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
About level with the typical town in Alberta: Crawford Plains’ $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.
Toward the quiet end of Canada’s range: 75% of its 2,611 towns sit above Crawford Plains.
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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Crawford Plains’ figure, nor landslides or tsunami: it is buildings and shaking.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean). · Area behind the earthquake risk figures: the city of Edmonton
1.4% of homes tested around Crawford Plains are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Area-wide: radon tests, counted over the Capital Health
At 1.4% over the guideline, the area around Crawford Plains is under the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Crawford Plains’ 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.
63% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have a higher share of homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Crawford Plains’ 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.
The survey sampled homes around Crawford Plains; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Crawford Plains
Alerts for Crawford Plains 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 Crawford Plains 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 Crawford Plains’ neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crawford Plains | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Daly Grove 3,486 · 0.9 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Pollard Meadows 4,361 · 1.2 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Laurel 15,263 · 1.4 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Sakaw 3,453 · 1.6 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Meyokumin 4,069 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Bisset 3,049 · 1.8 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
Among its neighbours Crawford Plains has the most fire on record (low); Daly Grove follows (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Crawford Plains faces
Practical steps for Crawford Plains’ 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. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Crawford Plains takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. The flood inventory points to maps; it is incomplete and not the official source, so ask the municipality about any street in Crawford Plains.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Crawford Plains’ 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 Crawford Plains’.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Crawford Plains
How is Crawford Plains’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Crawford Plains’ Hazard risk grade is A+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is radon a problem in Crawford Plains?
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 Crawford Plains.
How big is the earthquake risk in Crawford Plains?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Crawford Plains $0.013 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is Crawford Plains at risk of wildfire?
No meaningful wildfire history near Crawford Plains: 0% of nearby land since 1986, band low.
Does Crawford Plains flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Crawford Plains, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
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).