Photo: Johntwrl · CC BY-SA 3.0Hazard risk in Holyrood is lower than in 98% of Canadian towns
For Holyrood, wildfire history is close to nil: 0% of nearby land since 1986, 0.000% a year. Earthquakes matter little: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.013 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Fewer homes than usual carry radon here, 1.4% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Holyrood a grade of A+; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Holyrood’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Holyrood: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Holyrood faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Holyrood: A+
The grade weighs Holyrood’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
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. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Wildfire is rare near Holyrood: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Holyrood’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The yearly burn rate around Holyrood is 0.000%, low beside 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Forest makes up 0.1% of the land within 5 km of Holyrood and 0.3% 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
Wainwright has the highest burn rate in Alberta, 1.43% a year; around Holyrood, 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.
Like most of Canada’s 2,610 towns (92%), Holyrood 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.
Government of Alberta has mapped flooding for Holyrood (1 study)
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Holyrood: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Government of Alberta studied flooding in an area that includes Holyrood (2024); open its map to see which streets lie in a flood zone.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| North Saskatchewan River Flood Study | Government of Alberta | 2024 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Alberta, 46% of towns against 58% nationally, but Holyrood has one.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood mapping is shown for Holyrood to be opened and checked, never turned into a grade.
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.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
Low seismic risk in Holyrood: $0.013 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Holyrood’s $0.013 is a fraction of the typical town’s $0.030 (0.4 times as much): quiet ground by Canadian standards.
Holyrood shares its earthquake risk numbers with the rest of the city of Edmonton.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The median in Alberta is $0.013; Holyrood, at $0.013, is right beside it, and Black Diamond tops the list 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.
Holyrood 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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Holyrood’s figure, nor landslides or tsunami: it is buildings and shaking.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Radon runs low around Holyrood: 1.4% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Measured across the Capital Health: radon tests
At 1.4% over the guideline, the area around Holyrood is under the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs lower around Holyrood 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.
Radon rarely tops the guideline around Holyrood, as for 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 63% see 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.
One home in Holyrood can be high while next door is low; a three-month test settles it.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Holyrood
Alerts for Holyrood 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 Holyrood 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)
Hazards in the places around Holyrood
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Holyrood | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | Yes |
| Ottewell 8,040 · 1.1 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | Yes |
| Forest Heights 4,118 · 1.5 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | Yes |
| Bonnie Doon 6,697 · 1.6 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | Yes |
| Riverdale 5,490 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | Yes |
| King Edward Park 8,399 · 2.0 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Capilano 5,046 · 2.6 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | Yes |
Among its neighbours Holyrood has the most fire on record (low); Ottewell follows (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Holyrood faces
What to do about the hazards Holyrood 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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Holyrood’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Holyrood’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Holyrood is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- 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 Holyrood.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Holyrood
How big is the earthquake risk in Holyrood?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Holyrood’s buildings lose $0.013 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is Holyrood at risk of wildfire?
Hardly at all on record: 0% of the land within 25 km of Holyrood since 1986, a low band, though small grass fires aren’t mapped.
Does Holyrood flood?
There is flood mapping for Holyrood on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
Is radon a problem in Holyrood?
In Health Canada’s survey, 1.4% of 73 homes tested in Holyrood’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
How is Holyrood’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Holyrood grades A+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers 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).