Photo: Carlos Duarte Do Nascimento from Toronto, Canada · CC BY 2.0Few places are as safe from hazards as Westmount: it beats 98% of Canadian towns
Around Westmount, wildfire is practically absent from the record: 0% 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). In Health Canada’s survey, just 1.4% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Hazard risk gives Westmount a grade of A+; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Westmount’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Westmount: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Westmount faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Westmount: A+
Two inputs always count for Westmount, 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.
Little of the land around Westmount has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Westmount’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
The yearly burn rate around Westmount is 0.000%, low beside 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Forest fuel is scarce around Westmount: 0.3% of the land within 5 km, 0.4% 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 Westmount, 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.
Measured against 2,610 towns, Westmount 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.
Westmount is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Government of Alberta
Flood studies whose area touches Westmount, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
For Westmount the inventory points to Government of Alberta’s 2024 study, whose map is the one to check.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| North Saskatchewan River Flood Study | Government of Alberta | 2024 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Westmount is one of the 46% of towns in Alberta with a flood study on file, fewer than Canada’s 58%.
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 Westmount 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.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Westmount 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.
0.4 times the typical $0.030: Westmount’s $0.013 is low for Canada.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The median in Alberta is $0.013; Westmount, 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 Westmount.
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 loss is to Westmount’s buildings alone, from ground shaking; infrastructure and secondary hazards are left out.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean). · Data for earthquake risk covers the city of Edmonton
Radon runs low around Westmount: 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.
Radon runs below the typical Canadian town (6.6%) in Westmount’s area, at 1.4%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs lower around Westmount 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.
Westmount is in the lowest band, with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns: under 5% of tests over the guideline, while 63% have 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 survey sampled homes around Westmount; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Not measured by town: radon tests (the Capital Health)
Weather and fire alerts for Westmount
Alerts for Westmount 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. |
Evacuation orders for Westmount come from the municipality or the province, while CWFIS maps fire danger every day.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Westmount’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Westmount | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | Yes |
| Inglewood 7,167 · 1.5 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| North Glenora 3,693 · 1.5 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Queen Mary Park 7,958 · 1.6 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Glenora 6,197 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | Yes |
| Wîhkwêntôwin 19,050 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | Yes |
| Woodcroft 2,770 · 2.0 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
Fire is no heavier anywhere nearby than around Westmount (low), with Inglewood next at low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Westmount faces
What to do about the hazards Westmount 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. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Westmount takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. The flood inventory points to maps; it is incomplete and not the official source, so ask the municipality about any street in Westmount.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Westmount’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Westmount’s figure is its subdivision’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Westmount
How big is the earthquake risk in Westmount?
About $0.013 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Westmount.
How is Westmount’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Westmount grades A+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Does Westmount flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Westmount; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
Is Westmount at risk of wildfire?
No meaningful wildfire history near Westmount: 0% of nearby land since 1986, band low.
Is radon a problem in Westmount?
Around Westmount, 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).