Photo: Kay Röllig · CC BY 3.0Foothills County is on Canada’s flood inventory: 6 listed, led by Government of Alberta
Burn scars are few around Foothills County, with 0.3% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.008% a year). Earthquake risk in Foothills County is ordinary: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.029 a year per $1,000 of value, close to the typical town’s $0.030. Radon is about average around Foothills County: 8.1% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Foothills County grades B+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Foothills County’s hazards
For Foothills County, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Foothills County faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Foothills County: B+
For Foothills County, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
Its place: #440 of 474 in Alberta and #1,395 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Few fires near Foothills County: 0% within 5 km, 0.3% within 25 km
Past fire around Foothills County’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Around Foothills County fire takes 0.008% of the land in a typical year, the typical Canadian town 0.000%, which is low.
The closest burn since 1986 lies 6.2 km from Foothills County’s homes, none within 5 km.
Close to Foothills County there is little to burn (4.6% forest fuel within 5 km), but 16% of the land within 25 km is forest.
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
At 0.008% a year, Foothills County is near the top in Alberta: 61st of 478, behind Wainwright (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.
7.5% of Canada’s 2,610 towns burn fast enough to rank moderate or above; Foothills County stays low, with 92%.
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.
Flooding around Foothills County is mapped in 6 studies, the newest by Government of Alberta
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Foothills County: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The newest of 6 studies covering Foothills County is Government of Alberta’s, from 2025; open its map to see the zones.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pine Creek Flood Hazard Study | Government of Alberta | 2025 | final |
| Bow and Elbow River Flood Study | Government of Alberta | 2025 | final |
| Highwood River Flood Study | Government of Alberta | 2025 | final |
| Sheep River Flood Study | Government of Alberta | 2025 | final |
| Priddis Flood Study | Government of Alberta | 2024 | final |
| Siksika Bow River Flood Study | Government of Alberta | 2024 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Its flood study sets Foothills County apart in Alberta, where 46% of towns have one (Canada: 58%).
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Foothills County.
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.
Ordinary seismic risk in Foothills County: $0.029 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Foothills County’s $0.029 matches the typical town’s $0.030.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Above the middle in Alberta: Foothills County’s $0.029 against a median of $0.013, with Black Diamond 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.
Foothills County sits mid-range among Canada’s 2,611 towns: 51% expect more shaking damage.
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).
What a quake does after the shaking, fire, landslides, tsunami, falls outside NRCan’s figure for Foothills County.
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 Foothills County: 8.1% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
The survey area of Foothills County reads 8.1%, a shade from the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The typical town in Alberta has 7.5% over 200 Bq/m³; Foothills County’s area has 8.1%, much the same.
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: Foothills County, 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.
Neighbouring homes in Foothills County can differ a lot; only a long-term test tells you about yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests: one figure for all of the Calgary Health Region
Where to get warnings in Foothills County
Alerts for Foothills County 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 Foothills County 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)
How Foothills County’s neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
Among its neighbours Foothills County has the most fire on record (low); Okotoks follows (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Foothills County faces
Practical steps for Foothills County’s 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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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 Foothills County.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Foothills County, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Foothills County takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Foothills County’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
Questions about flooding and hazards in Foothills County
How is Foothills County’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Foothills County B+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is Foothills County at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Foothills County’s band is low, with 0.3% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2021), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Does Foothills County flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Foothills County; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
Is radon a problem in Foothills County?
8.1% of the 86 homes Health Canada tested around Foothills County topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How big is the earthquake risk in Foothills County?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Foothills County’s buildings lose $0.029 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).