Hazard risk in Kensington is lower than in 98% of Canadian towns
Around Kensington, 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. Fewer homes than usual carry radon here, 1.4% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Kensington grades A+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Kensington’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Kensington: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Kensington faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Kensington: A+
Two inputs always count for Kensington, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
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.
Little of the land around Kensington has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Kensington’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
A burn rate of 0.000% a year keeps Kensington in the low band (the typical Canadian town: 0.000%).
Only 0.3% of the land within 25 km of Kensington is forest fuel, and 0% close in.
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, Kensington 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.
92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are in the low band and 7.5% above it; Kensington 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.
No flood study is listed for Kensington
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Kensington: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists no study whose area touches Kensington, which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped.
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 46% of towns in Alberta have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%, and Kensington is not among them.
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 Kensington.
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 Kensington just $0.013 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Kensington’s $0.013 is a fraction of the typical town’s $0.030 (0.4 times as much): quiet ground by Canadian standards.
Behind earthquake risk sits data gathered across the city of Edmonton, with Kensington one part of it.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The median in Alberta is $0.013; Kensington, 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.
Earthquakes cost less around Kensington 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 loss is to Kensington’s buildings alone, from ground shaking; infrastructure and secondary hazards are left out.
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 Kensington: 1.4% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Radon tests for the Capital Health
Kensington’s area, at 1.4%, is below the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town, though any one home can still be high.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs lower around Kensington 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.
The quietest radon band, under 5%, holds 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns and Kensington; 63% sit higher.
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 Kensington only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Kensington
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Kensington; 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. |
Smoke and fire warnings for Kensington come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Kensington
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kensington | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Calder 4,221 · 0.7 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Carlisle 4,609 · 1.0 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Wellington 3,314 · 1.5 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Hudson 3,634 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Athlone 3,242 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Lauderdale 2,954 · 1.8 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
Kensington’s low band tops its neighbours; Calder is next (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Kensington faces
What to do about the hazards Kensington 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
- 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 Kensington.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Kensington takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Shaking damage is modelled from the ground, the buildings and the odds of each quake, and published for whole subdivisions such as Kensington’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Kensington’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Kensington
How big is the earthquake risk in Kensington?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Kensington $0.013 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is radon a problem in Kensington?
In Health Canada’s survey, 1.4% of 73 homes tested in Kensington’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
How is Kensington’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Kensington’s Hazard risk grade is A+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Does Kensington flood?
Nothing is listed for Kensington on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
Is Kensington at risk of wildfire?
Hardly at all on record: 0% of the land within 25 km of Kensington since 1986, a low band, though small grass fires aren’t mapped.
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).