Photo: Connormah · CC0Twin Brooks faces fewer hazards than 98% of Canadian towns
Since 1986 almost nothing has burned near Twin Brooks: 0% of the land within 25 km, or 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. In Health Canada’s survey, just 1.4% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Hazard risk gives Twin Brooks a grade of A+; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Twin Brooks’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Twin Brooks: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Twin Brooks faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Twin Brooks grades A+ for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Twin Brooks, 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: 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. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Wildfire is rare near Twin Brooks: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Twin Brooks’ residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Forty years of fire maps put Twin Brooks at 0.000% a year, low next to the typical Canadian town’s 0.000%.
The closest burn since 1986 lies 21 km from Twin Brooks’ homes, none within 5 km.
Little near Twin Brooks’ homes can carry a forest fire; only 1.2% of the land within 5 km is forest fuel, and 0.5% 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
Fire has taken almost none of the land around Twin Brooks, 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.
Twin Brooks shares the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, its burn rate rounding to nothing; 7.5% burn faster.
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 Twin Brooks
Flood studies whose area touches Twin Brooks, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists no study whose area touches Twin Brooks, which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped.
Towns with a flood study on file
Twin Brooks has no flood study on file; only 46% of towns in Alberta do, against 58% across Canada.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Twin Brooks floods.
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.”
Low seismic risk in Twin Brooks: $0.013 per $1,000 of buildings a year
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: Twin Brooks’ $0.013 is low for Canada.
Twin Brooks doesn’t get its own earthquake risk figures; the ones here come from the city of Edmonton.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The median in Alberta is $0.013; Twin Brooks, at $0.013, is right beside it, and Black Diamond tops the list at $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 Twin Brooks.
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 model counts damage to Twin Brooks’ buildings and their occupants from shaking only: not liquefaction, landslides, tsunami or fires after a quake.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Radon runs low around Twin Brooks: 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.
At 1.4% over the guideline, the area around Twin Brooks 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 Twin Brooks 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.
Radon rarely tops the guideline around Twin Brooks, as for 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 63% see more.
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.
The share describes the area, not a house: in Twin Brooks as anywhere, test to be sure.
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 Twin Brooks
Alerts for Twin Brooks 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. |
Fire danger and active fires near Twin Brooks are mapped daily by the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System; evacuation orders come from the municipality or province.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Twin Brooks
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Twin Brooks | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| MacEwan 6,102 · 0.9 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Skyrattler 2,956 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Mactaggart 3,603 · 1.8 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Bearspaw 5,192 · 2.1 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Cavanagh 7,300 · 2.2 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | Yes |
| Blue Quill 4,567 · 2.3 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
Nowhere around Twin Brooks burns more: MacEwan, the closest rival, is low to its low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Twin Brooks faces
What to do about the hazards Twin Brooks 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
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Twin Brooks is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Twin Brooks’ figure is its subdivision’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Twin Brooks’ homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- 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 Twin Brooks.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Twin Brooks
How big is the earthquake risk in Twin Brooks?
About $0.013 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Twin Brooks.
Does Twin Brooks flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Twin Brooks’ flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
Is Twin Brooks at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Twin Brooks since 1986 (last in 2023); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How is Twin Brooks’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Twin Brooks A+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is radon a problem in Twin Brooks?
Around Twin Brooks, 73 survey homes were tested and 1.4% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
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).