Hazard risk in Ormsby Place is lower than in 98% of Canadian towns
The burned-area map is nearly blank around Ormsby Place, 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%. Hazard risk gives Ormsby Place a grade of A+; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Ormsby Place’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Ormsby Place: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Ormsby Place faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Ormsby Place grades A+ for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Ormsby Place, 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: 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.
Little of the land around Ormsby Place has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Ormsby Place’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
A burn rate of 0.000% a year keeps Ormsby Place in the low band (the typical Canadian town: 0.000%).
Fire has stayed at least 20 km from Ormsby Place’s homes since 1986.
Land that isn’t forest covers nearly all the ground around Ormsby Place: forest fuel is 0.2% within 5 km and 0.6% 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
Among the 478 towns in Alberta, Wainwright burns fastest (1.43% a year); Ormsby Place is with the 386 near zero.
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.
Like most of Canada’s 2,610 towns (92%), Ormsby Place is in the low band, with a burn rate of zero to three decimals; 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 Ormsby Place
Flood studies whose area touches Ormsby Place, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
There is no study for Ormsby Place on the national flood inventory, which is far from complete.
Towns with a flood study on file
Ormsby Place 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 Ormsby Place’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 Ormsby Place: $0.013 a year per $1,000
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: Ormsby Place’s $0.013 is low for Canada.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The median in Alberta is $0.013; Ormsby Place, 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.
75% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Ormsby Place.
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 Ormsby Place’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). · Area behind the earthquake risk figures: the city of Edmonton
1.4% of homes tested around Ormsby Place are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Where the typical Canadian town has 6.6% of homes over the guideline, Ormsby Place’s area has fewer, 1.4%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Fewer homes top the guideline around Ormsby Place (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.
Radon rarely tops the guideline around Ormsby Place, as for 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 63% see 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.
Basements, soil and how a house is sealed decide its radon, so in Ormsby Place only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests: one figure for all of the Capital Health
Weather and fire alerts for Ormsby Place
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Ormsby Place; 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 Ormsby Place, 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 Ormsby Place’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ormsby Place | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Lymburn 7,231 · 0.6 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Jamieson Place 3,813 · 1.1 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | Yes |
| Callingwood South 7,844 · 1.5 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Glastonbury 9,745 · 2.1 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Aldergrove 5,311 · 2.2 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Thorncliff 3,564 · 2.2 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
Among its neighbours Ormsby Place has the most fire on record (low); Lymburn follows (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Ormsby Place faces
What to do about the hazards Ormsby Place 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. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Ormsby Place’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- 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 Ormsby Place 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 Ormsby Place floods.
- 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 Ormsby Place’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Ormsby Place
How big is the earthquake risk in Ormsby Place?
Expected earthquake damage in Ormsby Place comes to $0.013 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
How is Ormsby Place’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Ormsby Place’s Hazard risk grade is A+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is Ormsby Place at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Ormsby Place since 1986 (last in 2023); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
Does Ormsby Place flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Ormsby Place’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
Is radon a problem in Ormsby Place?
Around Ormsby Place, 73 survey homes were tested and 1.4% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
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).