Hazard risk in Cumberland is lower than in 98% of Canadian towns
Wildfire isn’t Cumberland’s worry: 0% of the land within 25 km burned 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. Fewer homes than usual carry radon here, 1.4% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Cumberland a grade of A+; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Cumberland’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Cumberland: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Cumberland faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Cumberland grades A+ for hazard risk
For Cumberland, 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.
Wildfire is rare near Cumberland: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Cumberland’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
A burn rate of 0.000% a year keeps Cumberland in the low band (the typical Canadian town: 0.000%).
Forest fuel is scarce around Cumberland: 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
Wainwright has the highest burn rate in Alberta, 1.43% a year; around Cumberland, as around 386 of the 478 towns, it rounds to zero.
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 Cumberland, 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 Cumberland
Flood studies whose area touches Cumberland, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
The inventory has nothing for Cumberland, but a local or conservation-authority map may still exist.
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 46% of towns in Alberta have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%, and Cumberland is not among them.
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 Cumberland’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 Cumberland: $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 Cumberland it is only $0.013, 0.4 times as much.
For earthquake risk, the only official count covers all of the city of Edmonton, Cumberland included.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Typical for its province: Cumberland 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.
Cumberland is in the lower part of Canada’s range for earthquake risk; 75% of the 2,611 towns are higher.
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 Cumberland’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).
Little radon around Cumberland: 1.4% of area homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Fewer homes than usual test high around Cumberland: 1.4% against 6.6% for the typical Canadian town. Nobody publishes radon tests for Cumberland alone, so this card uses the figure for the Capital Health.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Fewer homes top the guideline around Cumberland (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.
Few tests over the guideline: Cumberland 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.
A survey sample isn’t a map: any home in Cumberland can be high, and a three-month test is the only way to know.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Cumberland
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Cumberland; 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. |
In fire season, check CWFIS for danger and active fires around Cumberland, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Cumberland’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cumberland | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Hudson 3,634 · 0.7 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Carlton 5,502 · 1.1 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Oxford 4,460 · 1.1 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Wellington 3,314 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Caernarvon 5,972 · 1.5 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Carlisle 4,609 · 1.9 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
Among its neighbours Cumberland has the most fire on record (low); Hudson follows (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Cumberland faces
Practical steps for Cumberland’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
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Cumberland without grading them.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Cumberland’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 Cumberland’s.
- 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 Cumberland until then.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Cumberland
How big is the earthquake risk in Cumberland?
About $0.013 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Cumberland.
Does Cumberland flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Cumberland, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
How is Cumberland’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Cumberland grades A+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is Cumberland at risk of wildfire?
Very little by the national record: Cumberland’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Is radon a problem in Cumberland?
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 Cumberland.
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).