Few places are as safe from hazards as Mactaggart: it beats 98% of Canadian towns
Since 1986 almost nothing has burned near Mactaggart: 0% of the land within 25 km, or 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. Mactaggart grades A+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Mactaggart’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Mactaggart: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Mactaggart faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Mactaggart: A+
The grade weighs Mactaggart’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: 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.
Few fires near Mactaggart: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Mactaggart’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Next to the typical Canadian town (0.000% a year), Mactaggart’s 0.000% is in the low band.
Fire has stayed at least 19 km from Mactaggart’s homes since 1986.
Around Mactaggart the forest is thin or far off: 1.4% of the land within 5 km and 0.5% within 25 km is forest fuel.
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
Fire has taken almost none of the land around Mactaggart, as for 386 of the 478 towns in Alberta; Wainwright tops the list at 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; Mactaggart 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 Mactaggart
Flood studies whose area touches Mactaggart, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
An empty entry for Mactaggart on the inventory isn’t proof of safety; ask locally for flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Mactaggart has no flood study on file; only 46% of towns in Alberta do, against 58% across Canada.
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 Mactaggart 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.”
Low seismic risk in Mactaggart: $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.
0.4 times the typical $0.030: Mactaggart’s $0.013 is low for Canada.
Figures for earthquake risk are published for the city of Edmonton as a whole, not for Mactaggart alone.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Typical for its province: Mactaggart 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.
Earthquakes cost less around Mactaggart 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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Mactaggart’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).
Little radon around Mactaggart: 1.4% of area homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Source area for radon tests: the Capital Health
Mactaggart’s survey area reads 1.4% over the guideline, under the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs lower around Mactaggart 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.
Mactaggart is in the lowest band, with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns: under 5% of tests over the guideline, while 63% have 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.
The share describes the area, not a house: in Mactaggart as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Mactaggart
Alerts for Mactaggart 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 Mactaggart to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Mactaggart
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mactaggart | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Magrath Heights 3,728 · 1.2 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| South Terwillegar 8,183 · 1.4 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Twin Brooks 5,102 · 1.8 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Terwillegar Towne 6,478 · 1.9 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Ogilvie Ridge 5,218 · 2.0 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | Yes |
| MacEwan 6,102 · 2.0 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Mactaggart (low); Magrath Heights comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Mactaggart faces
What to do about the hazards Mactaggart 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
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Mactaggart’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Mactaggart’s figure is its subdivision’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 Mactaggart sits in.
- 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 Mactaggart floods.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Mactaggart
How is Mactaggart’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Mactaggart A+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is radon a problem in Mactaggart?
Around Mactaggart, 73 survey homes were tested and 1.4% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Is Mactaggart at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Mactaggart since 1986 (last in 2023); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Mactaggart?
About $0.013 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Mactaggart.
Does Mactaggart flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Mactaggart’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
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).