Photo: Rowanswiki · CC BY-SA 4.0Few places are as safe from hazards as Northmount: it beats 98% of Canadian towns
Since 1986 almost nothing has burned near Northmount: 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. Hazard risk gives Northmount a grade of A+; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Northmount’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Northmount: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Northmount faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Northmount: A+
For Northmount, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
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. 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.
Few fires near Northmount: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Northmount’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Low by Canadian standards: 0.000% of the land a year around Northmount, 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Land that isn’t forest covers nearly all the ground around Northmount: forest fuel is 0% within 5 km and 0.3% 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
Little or nothing burns around Northmount in a typical year; 386 of the 478 towns in Alberta share that, and Wainwright leads 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.
Northmount shares the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, its burn rate rounding to nothing; 7.5% burn faster.
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 Northmount
Flood studies whose area touches Northmount, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
No flood study on the national inventory covers Northmount; ask the municipality, which is the authority for its flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Alberta reaches 46% of towns, below the 58% across Canada, and not Northmount.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Northmount floods.
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 Northmount: $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.
Shaking costs the typical town $0.030 a year; in Northmount it is only $0.013, 0.4 times as much.
Behind earthquake risk sits data gathered across the city of Edmonton, with Northmount one part of it.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Shaking damage around Northmount 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.
75% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Northmount.
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 model counts damage to Northmount’s buildings and their occupants from shaking only: not liquefaction, landslides, tsunami or fires after a quake.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
1.4% of homes tested around Northmount are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Area-wide: radon tests, counted over the Capital Health
Fewer homes than usual test high around Northmount: 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 Northmount (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.
Few tests over the guideline: Northmount 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.
One home in Northmount 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 Northmount
Alerts for Northmount 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 Northmount 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)
How Northmount’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northmount | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Glengarry 3,087 · 0.8 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Evansdale 5,602 · 1.0 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Kildare 2,833 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Killarney 4,165 · 1.5 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Delwood 3,491 · 1.6 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Kilkenny 5,481 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
Fire is no heavier anywhere nearby than around Northmount (low), with Glengarry next at low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Northmount faces
Practical steps for Northmount’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
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Northmount takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Northmount’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- 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 Northmount.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Northmount’s figure is its subdivision’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Northmount
Is Northmount at risk of wildfire?
No meaningful wildfire history near Northmount: 0% of nearby land since 1986, band low.
How is Northmount’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Northmount’s Hazard risk grade is A+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
How big is the earthquake risk in Northmount?
Expected earthquake damage in Northmount comes to $0.013 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is radon a problem in Northmount?
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 Northmount.
Does Northmount flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Northmount, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
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).