Photo: Own work · CC BY-SA 3.0Few places are as safe from hazards as Ermineskin: it beats 98% of Canadian towns
Wildfire isn’t Ermineskin’s worry: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (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). In Health Canada’s survey, just 1.4% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Ermineskin grades A+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Ermineskin’s hazards
For Ermineskin, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Ermineskin faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Ermineskin grades A+ for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Ermineskin with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
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. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Wildfire is rare near Ermineskin: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Ermineskin’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Next to the typical Canadian town (0.000% a year), Ermineskin’s 0.000% is in the low band.
Since 1986 the nearest fire to Ermineskin’s homes came within 24 km, never inside 5 km.
Little near Ermineskin’s homes can carry a forest fire; only 1.2% of the land within 5 km is forest fuel, and 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, Ermineskin 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.
Ermineskin shares the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, its burn rate rounding to nothing; 7.5% burn faster.
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 Ermineskin
Flood studies whose area touches Ermineskin, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
No flood study on the national inventory covers Ermineskin; ask the municipality, which is the authority for its flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
No study touches Ermineskin; in Alberta, 46% of towns have one, below Canada’s 58%.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Nothing here counts toward Risk; the studies are pointers to the maps their owners keep for Ermineskin.
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 Ermineskin 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.
0.4 times the typical $0.030: Ermineskin’s $0.013 is low for Canada.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
About level with the typical town in Alberta: Ermineskin’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.
Most of Canada’s 2,611 towns (75%) face more earthquake damage than Ermineskin.
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 Ermineskin.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean). · Earthquake risk: the city of Edmonton
Little radon around Ermineskin: 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.
A lower share than most: 1.4% of tested homes around Ermineskin, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs lower around Ermineskin 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.
Ermineskin is in the lowest band, with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns: under 5% of tests over the guideline, while 63% have more.
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 low area share in Ermineskin doesn’t clear a house, nor does a high one condemn it: test.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests: one figure for all of the Capital Health
Where to get warnings in Ermineskin
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Ermineskin; 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 Ermineskin, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Ermineskin’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ermineskin | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Blue Quill 4,567 · 1.4 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Skyrattler 2,956 · 1.6 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Duggan 6,247 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Bearspaw 5,192 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Sweet Grass 2,616 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Greenfield 3,710 · 1.8 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
Nowhere around Ermineskin burns more: Blue Quill, the closest rival, is low to its low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Ermineskin faces
What to do about the hazards Ermineskin faces, and what to ask before you buy.
- 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
- Wildfire counts one way. For Ermineskin, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- 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 Ermineskin.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Ermineskin takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Ermineskin’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
Questions about flooding and hazards in Ermineskin
Is radon a problem in Ermineskin?
Around Ermineskin, 73 survey homes were tested and 1.4% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Does Ermineskin flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Ermineskin’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
How is Ermineskin’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Ermineskin A+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
How big is the earthquake risk in Ermineskin?
About $0.013 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Ermineskin.
Is Ermineskin at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Ermineskin since 1986 (last in 2023); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
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).