Photo: WinterE229 WinterforceMedia · CC0Montrose faces fewer hazards than 98% of Canadian towns
For Montrose, wildfire history is close to nil: 0% of nearby land 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. Montrose grades A+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Montrose’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Montrose: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Montrose faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Montrose: A+
Seismic risk and radon set Montrose’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
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. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Little of the land around Montrose has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Montrose’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Next to the typical Canadian town (0.000% a year), Montrose’s 0.000% is in the low band.
Around Montrose the forest is thin or far off: 0.1% of the land within 5 km and 0.3% 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
Near-zero burning puts Montrose with 386 of the 478 towns in Alberta, far below Wainwright 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; Montrose 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 Montrose
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Montrose: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
An empty entry for Montrose on the inventory isn’t proof of safety; ask locally for flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Montrose 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 is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Montrose’s homes stand in a flood zone.
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.”
Little shaking expected in Montrose: $0.013 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Shaking costs the typical town $0.030 a year; in Montrose it is only $0.013, 0.4 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Typical for its province: Montrose 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.
75% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Montrose.
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 Montrose’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). · Data for earthquake risk covers the city of Edmonton
1.4% of homes tested around Montrose are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Source area for radon tests: the Capital Health
At 1.4% over the guideline, the area around Montrose is under the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Against the typical town in Alberta (7.5%), the area around Montrose has fewer high tests: 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: Montrose 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.
Basements, soil and how a house is sealed decide its radon, so in Montrose only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Montrose
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Montrose; 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. |
For fires near Montrose, the national fire information system maps danger and active fires daily; local authorities give any evacuation order.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Montrose’s neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Montrose | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Highlands 2,677 · 0.8 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | Yes |
| Newton 2,809 · 1.2 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Balwin 4,092 · 1.6 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Eastwood 4,681 · 1.6 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Belvedere 5,337 · 2.1 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Virginia Park 3,431 · 2.1 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | Yes |
Montrose’s low band tops its neighbours; Highlands is next (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Montrose faces
Practical steps for Montrose’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
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Montrose’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Montrose’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 Montrose until then.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Montrose without grading them.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Montrose
Is radon a problem in Montrose?
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 Montrose.
Is Montrose at risk of wildfire?
Very little by the national record: Montrose’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
How is Montrose’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Montrose grades A+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Does Montrose flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Montrose, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
How big is the earthquake risk in Montrose?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Montrose’s buildings lose $0.013 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
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).