Photo: Wilson Hui from Calgary, Canada · CC BY 2.0Hazards in Falher: wildfire moderate, radon over the guideline in 8.9% of tested homes
Fire reaches the land around Falher now and then: 3.2% within 25 km since 1986 (0.08% a year), below the high band. Shaking is about as much of a worry in Falher as in most places, at $0.016 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Hazard risk gives Falher a grade of B+; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Falher’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Falher: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Falher faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Falher grades B+ for hazard risk
For Falher, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
A moderate wildfire record for Falher: 3.2% within 25 km burned, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Falher’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Moderate: the land around Falher burns at 0.08% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Falher’s homes have had no fire within 5 km since 1986; the closest was 12 km away.
5.9% of the land within 25 km of Falher is forest fuel, yet only 0% within 5 km of its homes.
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 479
The land around Falher burns at 0.08% a year, the 28th highest rate of 479 towns in Alberta; Wainwright tops it 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 5.4% of Canada’s 2,610 towns share the moderate band with Falher, and 2.1% sit above it.
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 Falher
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Falher: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The inventory has nothing for Falher, but a local or conservation-authority map may still exist.
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 46% of towns in Alberta have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%, and Falher is not among them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Falher’s homes stand in a flood zone.
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.”
Ordinary seismic risk in Falher: $0.016 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Earthquake losses in Falher, $0.016 per $1,000, are in line with the typical $0.030 (0.5 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Falher’s $0.016 is close to the median in Alberta, $0.013; Black Diamond is highest 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.
Earthquakes cost less around Falher than in 71% of Canada’s 2,611 towns.
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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Falher’s figure, nor landslides or tsunami: it is buildings and shaking.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Some radon around Falher: 8.9% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
At 8.9% over the guideline, the area around Falher is about level with the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
1% of tests around Falher passed 600 Bq/m³; over 200, its 8.9% matches 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.
Between 5% and 10% of tests over the guideline: Falher, and 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% are 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.
One home in Falher can be high while next door is low; a three-month test settles it.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Area behind the radon tests figures: the Peace Country Health
Weather and fire alerts for Falher
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Falher; 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. |
Smoke and fire warnings for Falher come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Falher
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Falher | Moderate | $0.016 | 8.9% | None listed |
| Smoky River No. 130 1,941 · 7.6 km | Moderate | $0.016 | 8.9% | Yes |
Smoky River No. 130 burns a little more than Falher, in the same moderate band (moderate here).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Falher faces
Practical steps for Falher’s hazards, most pressing first.
- Clear needles and wood nearby.
- Keep a grab-and-go bag ready.
- In smoke, stay in; filter air.
- 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.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- How close is the forest edge?
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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 Falher.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Falher’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; Falher’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Falher is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Falher
Is Falher at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Falher’s band is moderate, with 3.2% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2025), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Does Falher flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Falher (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
Is radon a problem in Falher?
8.9% of the 203 homes Health Canada tested around Falher topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How is Falher’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Falher B+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
How big is the earthquake risk in Falher?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Falher $0.016 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
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).