Photo: CnekYT · CC BY-SA 4.0Few places are as safe from hazards as Ritchie: it beats 98% of Canadian towns
Wildfire isn’t Ritchie’s worry: 0% of the land within 25 km burned 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. Hazard risk gives Ritchie a grade of A+; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Ritchie’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Ritchie: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Ritchie faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Ritchie: A+
Seismic risk and radon set Ritchie’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. 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 Ritchie has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Ritchie’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
A burn rate of 0.000% a year keeps Ritchie in the low band (the typical Canadian town: 0.000%).
Little near Ritchie’s homes can carry a forest fire; only 0.3% of the land within 5 km is forest fuel, and 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, Ritchie 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.
Only 7.5% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are above the low band, which holds 92%; Ritchie, at a rounded zero, is far from them.
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 Ritchie
Flood studies whose area touches Ritchie, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists no study whose area touches Ritchie, which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped.
Towns with a flood study on file
No study touches Ritchie; in Alberta, 46% of towns have one, below Canada’s 58%.
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 Ritchie’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 Ritchie 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.
At $0.013 per $1,000, Ritchie carries 0.4 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030): low.
Nobody publishes earthquake risk for Ritchie alone, so this card uses the figure for the city of Edmonton.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Neither high nor low in Alberta: Ritchie’s $0.013 sits by the median of $0.013, while Black Diamond reaches $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 Ritchie.
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 Ritchie’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).
Little radon around Ritchie: 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.
Fewer homes than usual test high around Ritchie: 1.4% against 6.6% for the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs lower around Ritchie 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.
Under 5% puts Ritchie 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.
One home in Ritchie 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). · Radon tests: one figure for all of the Capital Health
Weather and fire alerts for Ritchie
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Ritchie; 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. |
In fire season, check CWFIS for danger and active fires around Ritchie, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Ritchie’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ritchie | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Bonnie Doon 6,697 · 1.1 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | Yes |
| Hazeldean 3,247 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Strathcona 8,283 · 1.4 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | Yes |
| Avonmore 2,971 · 1.9 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Queen Alexandra 5,106 · 2.2 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | Yes |
| Riverdale 5,490 · 2.5 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | Yes |
The neighbour with the most fire is Bonnie Doon (low), still no more than Ritchie (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Ritchie faces
Practical steps for Ritchie’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. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Ritchie without grading them.
- 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 Ritchie until then.
- 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 Ritchie’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Ritchie’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Ritchie
Is radon a problem in Ritchie?
1.4% of the 73 homes Health Canada tested around Ritchie topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
Is Ritchie at risk of wildfire?
Hardly at all on record: 0% of the land within 25 km of Ritchie since 1986, a low band, though small grass fires aren’t mapped.
Does Ritchie flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Ritchie (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
How big is the earthquake risk in Ritchie?
About $0.013 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Ritchie.
How is Ritchie’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Ritchie A+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
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).