Sweet Grass faces fewer hazards than 98% of Canadian towns
Wildfire isn’t Sweet Grass’ worry: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (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. Hazard risk gives Sweet Grass a grade of A+; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Sweet Grass’s hazards
For Sweet Grass, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Sweet Grass faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Sweet Grass: A+
Seismic risk and radon set Sweet Grass’ 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. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Few fires near Sweet Grass: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Past fire around Sweet Grass’ homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
At 0.000% of the land a year, Sweet Grass’ burn rate is in the low band; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Since 1986 the nearest fire to Sweet Grass’ homes came within 23 km, never inside 5 km.
Forest makes up 1.4% of the land within 5 km of Sweet Grass and 0.5% within 25 km, little for a forest fire to run through.
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
Fire has taken almost none of the land around Sweet Grass, as for 386 of the 478 towns in Alberta; Wainwright tops the list 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%; Sweet Grass, 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 Sweet Grass
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Sweet Grass: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The inventory has nothing for Sweet Grass, but a local or conservation-authority map may still exist.
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Alberta reaches 46% of towns, below the 58% across Canada, and not Sweet Grass.
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 Sweet Grass’ 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 Sweet Grass just $0.013 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.013 per $1,000, Sweet Grass carries 0.4 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030): low.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Neither high nor low in Alberta: Sweet Grass’ $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.
75% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Sweet Grass.
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 Sweet Grass 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). · Earthquake risk: one figure for all of the city of Edmonton
1.4% of homes tested around Sweet Grass are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Sweet Grass’ survey area reads 1.4% over the guideline, under the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. For radon tests, the only official count covers all of the Capital Health, Sweet Grass included.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs lower around Sweet Grass 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.
Few tests over the guideline: Sweet Grass shares the bottom band with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, below the other 63%.
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 Sweet Grass 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 Sweet Grass
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Sweet Grass; 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 Sweet Grass, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Sweet Grass
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sweet Grass | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Greenfield 3,710 · 0.5 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Blue Quill 4,567 · 0.6 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Royal Gardens 3,392 · 1.5 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | Yes |
| Duggan 6,247 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Westbrook Estates 2,838 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | Yes |
| Ermineskin 7,483 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
Greenfield (low) has the heaviest fire record of Sweet Grass’ neighbours, and Sweet Grass (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Sweet Grass faces
Practical steps for Sweet Grass’ 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. 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 Sweet Grass floods.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Sweet Grass, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Sweet Grass’ census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- 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 Sweet Grass sits in.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Sweet Grass
How big is the earthquake risk in Sweet Grass?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Sweet Grass $0.013 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is radon a problem in Sweet Grass?
1.4% of the 73 homes Health Canada tested around Sweet Grass topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How is Sweet Grass’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Sweet Grass A+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is Sweet Grass at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Sweet Grass’ band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2023), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Does Sweet Grass flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Sweet Grass (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
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).