Klarvatten faces fewer hazards than 98% of Canadian towns
The national fire record shows next to nothing around Klarvatten, 0% of the land 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%. Hazard risk gives Klarvatten a grade of A+; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Klarvatten’s hazards
For Klarvatten, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Klarvatten faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Klarvatten grades A+ for hazard risk
Earthquake risk and radon make Klarvatten’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. 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.
Little of the land around Klarvatten has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Klarvatten’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Forty years of fire maps put Klarvatten at 0.000% a year, low next to the typical Canadian town’s 0.000%.
Forest fuel is scarce around Klarvatten: 0% of the land within 5 km, 0.4% 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, Klarvatten 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.
Measured against 2,610 towns, Klarvatten is in the largest group, low (92%), and at its floor, while 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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Klarvatten
Flood studies whose area touches Klarvatten, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
There is no study for Klarvatten on the national flood inventory, which is far from complete.
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 46% of towns in Alberta have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%, and Klarvatten is not among them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Klarvatten’s homes are at risk.
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 Klarvatten 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.
Shaking costs the typical town $0.030 a year; in Klarvatten it is only $0.013, 0.4 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Shaking damage around Klarvatten runs at $0.013 a year, near the $0.013 of the typical town in Alberta; Black Diamond has $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.
Toward the quiet end of Canada’s range: 75% of its 2,611 towns sit above Klarvatten.
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 Klarvatten 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). · Data for earthquake risk covers the city of Edmonton
1.4% of homes tested around Klarvatten are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · The radon tests numbers here cover the Capital Health
Fewer homes than usual test high around Klarvatten: 1.4% against 6.6% for the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Fewer homes top the guideline around Klarvatten (1.4%) than in the typical town in Alberta (7.5%).
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Under 5% puts Klarvatten with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 63% have more high tests.
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.
Whatever Klarvatten’s area share, the reading that matters is your own home’s, over a winter.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Klarvatten
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Klarvatten; 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 Klarvatten 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 Klarvatten
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Klarvatten | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Lago Lindo 2,963 · 0.9 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Crystallina Nera West 3,150 · 1.0 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Elsinore 5,796 · 1.4 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Crystallina Nera East 5,566 · 1.6 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Mayliewan 4,259 · 1.9 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Belle Rive 3,946 · 2.0 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
Lago Lindo (low) has the heaviest fire record of Klarvatten’s neighbours, and Klarvatten (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Klarvatten faces
Practical steps for Klarvatten’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. A study’s area can be a whole watershed or province, so being on the inventory says a map exists, not that a home in Klarvatten floods.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Klarvatten, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Klarvatten’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Radon is a survey. The radon share comes from about 14,000 long-term home tests in 2009–2011, pooled for now by the 2007 health region Klarvatten sits in.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Klarvatten
How is Klarvatten’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Klarvatten grades A+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is Klarvatten at risk of wildfire?
The burned-area record shows next to nothing around Klarvatten (0% within 25 km since 1986), so its band is low.
Does Klarvatten flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Klarvatten, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
How big is the earthquake risk in Klarvatten?
Expected earthquake damage in Klarvatten comes to $0.013 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is radon a problem in Klarvatten?
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 Klarvatten.
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).