Few places are as safe from hazards as Ellerslie: it beats 98% of Canadian towns
The burned-area map is nearly blank around Ellerslie, 0% within 25 km 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. In Health Canada’s survey, just 1.4% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Ellerslie grades A+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Ellerslie’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Ellerslie: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Ellerslie faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Ellerslie: A+
For Ellerslie, 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. The radon share rests on 73 home tests in the survey area, so a few homes move it. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Wildfire is rare near Ellerslie: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Ellerslie’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
The yearly burn rate around Ellerslie is 0.000%, low beside 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Since 1986 the nearest fire to Ellerslie’s homes came within 25 km, never inside 5 km.
Land that isn’t forest covers nearly all the ground around Ellerslie: forest fuel is 0.3% within 5 km and 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 Ellerslie, 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.
Measured against 2,610 towns, Ellerslie is in the largest group, low (92%), and at its floor, while 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.
No flood study is listed for Ellerslie
Flood studies whose area touches Ellerslie, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
No flood study on the national inventory covers Ellerslie; ask the municipality, which is the authority for its flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Ellerslie 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.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Ellerslie’s homes stand in a flood zone.
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 Ellerslie just $0.013 per $1,000 a year
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 Ellerslie it is only $0.013, 0.4 times as much.
Ellerslie shares its earthquake risk numbers with the rest of the city of Edmonton.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Ellerslie’s $0.013 is close to the median in Alberta, $0.013; Black Diamond is highest 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.
Toward the quiet end of Canada’s range: 75% of its 2,611 towns sit above Ellerslie.
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 Ellerslie’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).
1.4% of homes tested around Ellerslie are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Measured across the Capital Health: radon tests
Fewer homes than usual test high around Ellerslie: 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 Ellerslie (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: Ellerslie 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.
Basements, soil and how a house is sealed decide its radon, so in Ellerslie only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Ellerslie
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Ellerslie; 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 Ellerslie, 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 Ellerslie’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ellerslie | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Summerside 16,760 · 1.4 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Walker 13,388 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Anthony Henday South East 4,960 · 1.8 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Charlesworth 8,135 · 1.9 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Satoo 2,517 · 2.1 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| The Orchards At Ellerslie 6,267 · 2.4 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
Fire is no heavier anywhere nearby than around Ellerslie (low), with Summerside next at low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Ellerslie faces
Practical steps for Ellerslie’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
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Ellerslie is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Ellerslie’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. NRCan’s inventory says where flood mapping exists, not where water goes; the map’s owner is the authority for Ellerslie.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Ellerslie’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Ellerslie
Is Ellerslie at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Ellerslie’s low band (0% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2023) is short of the level that counts.
Is radon a problem in Ellerslie?
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 Ellerslie.
Does Ellerslie flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Ellerslie, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
How big is the earthquake risk in Ellerslie?
About $0.013 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Ellerslie.
How is Ellerslie’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Ellerslie A+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
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).