Hazard risk in Skyrattler is lower than in 98% of Canadian towns
No wildfire is mapped within 25 km of Skyrattler’s homes since 1986 (0% of the land, 0.000% a year). Earthquakes matter little: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.013 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Radon is lower than usual: 1.4% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Skyrattler grades A+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Skyrattler’s hazards
For Skyrattler, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Skyrattler faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Skyrattler grades A+ for hazard risk
The grade weighs Skyrattler’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
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. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Few fires near Skyrattler: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Past fire around Skyrattler’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
In a typical year 0.000% of the land near Skyrattler burns; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%, and both are low.
The 5 km ring around Skyrattler’s homes is clear of burns since 1986, the nearest 22 km out.
With 1.3% forest fuel within 5 km and 0.5% within 25 km, the land around Skyrattler gives a fire little to burn.
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
Near-zero burning puts Skyrattler with 386 of the 478 towns in Alberta, far below Wainwright 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.
Only 7.5% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are above the low band, which holds 92%; Skyrattler, 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.
No flood study is listed for Skyrattler
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Skyrattler: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
NRCan’s inventory is silent on Skyrattler, so any flood map would be the municipality’s own.
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 46% of towns in Alberta have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%, and Skyrattler is not among them.
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 Skyrattler’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.”
Little shaking expected in Skyrattler: $0.013 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
0.4 times the typical $0.030: Skyrattler’s $0.013 is low for Canada.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk around Skyrattler ($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.
75% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Skyrattler.
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).
For Skyrattler the model prices shaking damage to buildings, nothing more.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean). · Not measured by town: earthquake risk (the city of Edmonton)
Little radon around Skyrattler: 1.4% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Measured across the Capital Health: radon tests
Skyrattler’s area, at 1.4%, is below the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town, though any one home can still be high.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Skyrattler’s area, at 1.4%, is below the median in Alberta (7.5%).
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 Skyrattler; 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 Skyrattler 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 Skyrattler
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Skyrattler; 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 Skyrattler, 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 Skyrattler’s neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skyrattler | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Blue Quill 4,567 · 1.2 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Twin Brooks 5,102 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Bearspaw 5,192 · 1.6 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Ermineskin 7,483 · 1.6 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Sweet Grass 2,616 · 1.8 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| MacEwan 6,102 · 2.1 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
Skyrattler’s low band tops its neighbours; Blue Quill is next (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Skyrattler faces
What to do about the hazards Skyrattler 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. For Skyrattler, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. NRCan’s inventory says where flood mapping exists, not where water goes; the map’s owner is the authority for Skyrattler.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Skyrattler is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Skyrattler’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
Questions about flooding and hazards in Skyrattler
Is radon a problem in Skyrattler?
Around Skyrattler, 73 survey homes were tested and 1.4% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How is Skyrattler’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Skyrattler’s Hazard risk grade is A+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Does Skyrattler flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Skyrattler’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
Is Skyrattler at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Skyrattler since 1986 (last in 2023); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Skyrattler?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Skyrattler’s buildings lose $0.013 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
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).