Photo: Robert Blyth · CC BY-SA 2.0Hazard risk in Rundle Heights is lower than in 98% of Canadian towns
Fire has left almost no mark near Rundle Heights: 0% of the land 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. In Health Canada’s survey, just 1.4% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Rundle Heights grades A+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Rundle Heights’s hazards
For Rundle Heights, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Rundle Heights faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Rundle Heights grades A+ for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Rundle Heights, 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. 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.
Few fires near Rundle Heights: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Rundle Heights’ residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Low by Canadian standards: 0.000% of the land a year around Rundle Heights, 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Forest fuel is scarce around Rundle Heights: 0.1% of the land within 5 km, 0.2% 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, Rundle Heights 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.
92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are in the low band and 7.5% above it; Rundle Heights 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.
Government of Alberta has mapped flooding for Rundle Heights (1 study)
Flood studies whose area touches Rundle Heights, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
The flood study touching Rundle Heights is Government of Alberta’s, dated 2024; its own map shows the zones street by street.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| North Saskatchewan River Flood Study | Government of Alberta | 2024 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Alberta, 46% of towns against 58% nationally, but Rundle Heights has one.
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 Rundle Heights’ 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.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
Little shaking expected in Rundle Heights: $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: Rundle Heights’ $0.013 is low for Canada.
Figures for earthquake risk are published for the city of Edmonton as a whole, not for Rundle Heights alone.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Shaking damage around Rundle Heights 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.
Most of Canada’s 2,611 towns (75%) face more earthquake damage than Rundle Heights.
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 Rundle Heights 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).
1.4% of homes tested around Rundle Heights are over the radon 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
At 1.4% over the guideline, the area around Rundle Heights 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 Rundle Heights 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.
The quietest radon band, under 5%, holds 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns and Rundle Heights; 63% sit higher.
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.
A low area share in Rundle Heights doesn’t clear a house, nor does a high one condemn it: test.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Rundle Heights
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Rundle Heights; 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 Rundle Heights, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Rundle Heights’ neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rundle Heights | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | Yes |
| Beverly Heights 3,252 · 1.1 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | Yes |
| Beacon Heights 4,389 · 1.4 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | Yes |
| Overlanders 2,879 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | Yes |
| Newton 2,809 · 2.3 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Belmont 5,299 · 2.7 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | Yes |
| Gold Bar 2,685 · 2.9 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | Yes |
Fire is no heavier anywhere nearby than around Rundle Heights (low), with Beverly Heights next at low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Rundle Heights faces
What to do about the hazards Rundle Heights 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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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 Rundle Heights until then.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Rundle Heights’ included.
- 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 Rundle Heights.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Rundle Heights without grading them.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Rundle Heights
Is Rundle Heights at risk of wildfire?
Hardly at all on record: 0% of the land within 25 km of Rundle Heights since 1986, a low band, though small grass fires aren’t mapped.
How is Rundle Heights’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Rundle Heights A+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is radon a problem in Rundle Heights?
Around Rundle Heights, 73 survey homes were tested and 1.4% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Does Rundle Heights flood?
A flood study covers Rundle Heights on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
How big is the earthquake risk in Rundle Heights?
About $0.013 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Rundle Heights.
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).