Glastonbury faces fewer hazards than 98% of Canadian towns
Wildfire isn’t Glastonbury’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. In Health Canada’s survey, just 1.4% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Glastonbury grades A+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Glastonbury’s hazards
For Glastonbury, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Glastonbury faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Glastonbury: A+
For Glastonbury, 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. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Few fires near Glastonbury: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Past fire around Glastonbury’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Next to the typical Canadian town (0.000% a year), Glastonbury’s 0.000% is in the low band.
The closest burn since 1986 lies 20 km from Glastonbury’s homes, none within 5 km.
Land that isn’t forest covers nearly all the ground around Glastonbury: forest fuel is 0.1% within 5 km and 0.7% 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
Among the 478 towns in Alberta, Wainwright burns fastest (1.43% a year); Glastonbury is with the 386 near 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.
Like most of Canada’s 2,610 towns (92%), Glastonbury is in the low band, with a burn rate of zero to three decimals; 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 Glastonbury
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Glastonbury: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
No flood study on the national inventory covers Glastonbury; ask the municipality, which is the authority for its flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Alberta, 46% of towns against 58% nationally, and Glastonbury has none.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Glastonbury.
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 Glastonbury: $0.013 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Shaking costs the typical town $0.030 a year; in Glastonbury it is only $0.013, 0.4 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Typical for its province: Glastonbury 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.
Most of Canada’s 2,611 towns (75%) face more earthquake damage than Glastonbury.
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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in Glastonbury is counted; landslides, liquefaction, tsunami and fire after a quake aren’t.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean). · Earthquake risk: one figure for all of the city of Edmonton
Radon runs low around Glastonbury: 1.4% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Shared with the rest of the Capital Health: radon tests
At 1.4% over the guideline, the area around Glastonbury is under the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The median in Alberta is 7.5% over 200 Bq/m³; around Glastonbury it is 1.4%.
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 Glastonbury’s 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.
Health Canada advises testing every home, Glastonbury’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Glastonbury
Alerts for Glastonbury 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. |
Evacuation orders for Glastonbury come from the municipality or the province, while CWFIS maps fire danger every day.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Glastonbury’s neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glastonbury | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Granville 2,994 · 0.9 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Lymburn 7,231 · 1.6 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Ormsby Place 4,412 · 2.1 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Aldergrove 5,311 · 2.1 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Suder Greens 2,928 · 2.1 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Jamieson Place 3,813 · 2.5 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | Yes |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Glastonbury (low); Granville comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Glastonbury faces
Practical steps for Glastonbury’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. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Glastonbury 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 Glastonbury’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- 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 Glastonbury.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Glastonbury, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Glastonbury
How big is the earthquake risk in Glastonbury?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Glastonbury’s buildings lose $0.013 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
How is Glastonbury’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Glastonbury’s Hazard risk grade is A+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is Glastonbury at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Glastonbury’s low band (0% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2023) is short of the level that counts.
Does Glastonbury flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Glastonbury, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
Is radon a problem in Glastonbury?
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 Glastonbury.
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).