Rosenthal faces fewer hazards than 98% of Canadian towns
The national fire record shows next to nothing around Rosenthal, 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). Shaking is less of a worry than in most places, at $0.013 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). 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 Rosenthal a grade of A+; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Rosenthal’s hazards
For Rosenthal, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Rosenthal faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Rosenthal grades A+ for hazard risk
Seismic risk and radon set Rosenthal’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. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Wildfire is rare near Rosenthal: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Rosenthal’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Fire claims 0.000% of the land around Rosenthal each year, a low band, with the typical Canadian town at 0.000%.
The closest burn since 1986 lies 20 km from Rosenthal’s homes, none within 5 km.
Only 0.7% of the land within 25 km of Rosenthal is forest fuel, and 0.1% close in.
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
Wainwright has the highest burn rate in Alberta, 1.43% a year; around Rosenthal, as around 386 of the 478 towns, it rounds to 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.
Measured against 2,610 towns, Rosenthal is in the largest group, low (92%), and at its floor, while 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 Rosenthal
Flood studies whose area touches Rosenthal, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists no study whose area touches Rosenthal, which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped.
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Alberta reaches 46% of towns, below the 58% across Canada, and not Rosenthal.
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 Rosenthal 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.”
Earthquakes cost buildings in Rosenthal 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.
Shaking costs the typical town $0.030 a year; in Rosenthal it is only $0.013, 0.4 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk around Rosenthal ($0.013) matches the middle in Alberta ($0.013), far from Black Diamond’s $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.
Most of Canada’s 2,611 towns (75%) face more earthquake damage than Rosenthal.
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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in Rosenthal is counted; landslides, liquefaction, tsunami and fire after a quake aren’t.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean). · Earthquake risk: the city of Edmonton
Radon runs low around Rosenthal: 1.4% of tested homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Measured across the Capital Health: radon tests
Fewer homes than usual test high around Rosenthal: 1.4% against 6.6% for the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Against the typical town in Alberta (7.5%), the area around Rosenthal 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.
Under 5% puts Rosenthal 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.
Health Canada advises testing every home, Rosenthal’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Rosenthal
Alerts for Rosenthal 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 Rosenthal to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Rosenthal’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rosenthal | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Suder Greens 2,928 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Secord 8,205 · 1.6 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Webber Greens 5,035 · 1.9 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Granville 2,994 · 2.5 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Glastonbury 9,745 · 2.6 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Enoch Cree Nation 1,947 · 3.5 km | Low | $0.016 | 1.4% | None listed |
Among its neighbours Rosenthal has the most fire on record (low); Suder Greens follows (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Rosenthal faces
Practical steps for Rosenthal’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
- Wildfire counts one way. Burned land within 25 km of where people live, averaged over 1986–2025 and checked for fuel near homes, is the measure; it looks back, not ahead, and only ever counts against Rosenthal.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Rosenthal 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 Rosenthal until then.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Rosenthal’s included.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Rosenthal
Does Rosenthal flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Rosenthal, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
How is Rosenthal’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Rosenthal grades A+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is radon a problem in Rosenthal?
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 Rosenthal.
How big is the earthquake risk in Rosenthal?
About $0.013 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Rosenthal.
Is Rosenthal at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Rosenthal’s low band (0% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2023) is short of the level that counts.
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).