Photo: Johntwrl · CC BY-SA 3.0Hazard risk in Glenwood is lower than in 98% of Canadian towns
Around Glenwood, wildfire is practically absent from the record: 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. Radon is lower than usual: 1.4% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Glenwood a grade of A+; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Glenwood’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Glenwood: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Glenwood faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Glenwood grades A+ for hazard risk
Earthquake risk and radon make Glenwood’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
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 Glenwood: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Glenwood’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Glenwood burns at 0.000% a year, low against 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Forest makes up 0.3% of the land within 5 km of Glenwood and 0.5% within 25 km, little for a forest fire to run through.
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
To three decimals the burn rate around Glenwood is zero, as for 386 of the 478 towns in Alberta, while Wainwright reaches 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.
92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are in the low band and 7.5% above it; Glenwood is among the many where the yearly burn rate 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 Glenwood
Flood studies whose area touches Glenwood, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
An empty entry for Glenwood on the inventory isn’t proof of safety; ask locally for flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Alberta reaches 46% of towns, below the 58% across Canada, and not Glenwood.
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 Glenwood.
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.”
Low seismic risk in Glenwood: $0.013 per $1,000 of buildings a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
At $0.013 per $1,000, Glenwood carries 0.4 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030): low.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Glenwood’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.
Earthquakes cost less around Glenwood than in 75% of Canada’s 2,611 towns.
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 Glenwood’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). · Earthquake risk: one figure for all of the city of Edmonton
1.4% of homes tested around Glenwood are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Area-wide: radon tests, counted over the Capital Health
Where the typical Canadian town has 6.6% of homes over the guideline, Glenwood’s area has fewer, 1.4%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The median in Alberta is 7.5% over 200 Bq/m³; around Glenwood it is 1.4%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Few tests over the guideline: Glenwood 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.
The share describes the area, not a house: in Glenwood as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Glenwood
Alerts for Glenwood 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. |
Alert Ready carries evacuation orders for Glenwood to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Glenwood’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glenwood | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Britannia Youngstown 4,616 · 1.0 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| West Jasper Place 3,427 · 1.2 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Meadowlark Park 2,671 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| West Meadowlark Park 5,386 · 1.5 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Jasper Park 3,219 · 1.8 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Canora 4,799 · 1.9 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
Nowhere around Glenwood burns more: Britannia Youngstown, 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 Glenwood faces
Practical steps for Glenwood’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 Glenwood without grading them.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Glenwood’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- 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 Glenwood until then.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Glenwood’s figure is its subdivision’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Glenwood
How big is the earthquake risk in Glenwood?
Expected earthquake damage in Glenwood comes to $0.013 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is radon a problem in Glenwood?
1.4% of the 73 homes Health Canada tested around Glenwood topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
Is Glenwood at risk of wildfire?
Very little by the national record: Glenwood’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
How is Glenwood’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Glenwood A+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Does Glenwood flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Glenwood (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
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).