Photo: Matthew Boonstra · CC BY-SA 4.0Hazard risk in Fort Saskatchewan is lower than in almost every Canadian town
Fire reaches the land around Fort Saskatchewan now and then: 3.8% within 25 km since 1986 (0.12% a year), below the high band. Earthquakes matter little: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.010 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). Fort Saskatchewan grades A+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Fort Saskatchewan’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Fort Saskatchewan: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Fort Saskatchewan faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Fort Saskatchewan grades A+ for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Fort Saskatchewan, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
Its place: #6 of 474 in Alberta and #16 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Only 73 homes were tested in the survey area, so the radon share is rough. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Fire reaches the land around Fort Saskatchewan: 0% within 5 km, 3.8% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Fort Saskatchewan’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
At 0.12% of the land a year, Fort Saskatchewan’s burn rate is moderate; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Since 1986 the nearest fire to Fort Saskatchewan’s homes came within 16 km, never inside 5 km.
Forest fuel is scarce around Fort Saskatchewan: 0% of the land within 5 km, 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
Wainwright burns fastest in Alberta at 1.43% a year; Fort Saskatchewan, at 0.12%, ranks 23rd of 478.
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.
Moderate puts Fort Saskatchewan above most of Canada’s 2,610 towns, yet 2.1% rank high or very high and 5.4% share its band.
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.
A flood study covers Fort Saskatchewan, from Government of Alberta: 1 on the inventory
Flood studies whose area touches Fort Saskatchewan, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
For Fort Saskatchewan 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
Fort Saskatchewan 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.
Flood mapping is shown for Fort Saskatchewan to be opened and checked, never turned into a grade.
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 Fort Saskatchewan just $0.010 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.
0.3 times the typical $0.030: Fort Saskatchewan’s $0.010 is low for Canada.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Alberta expects $0.013 a year in shaking damage; Fort Saskatchewan expects less, $0.010, and Black Diamond the most, $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 Fort Saskatchewan than in 86% 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 Fort Saskatchewan’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).
Little radon around Fort Saskatchewan: 1.4% of area homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · The radon tests numbers here cover the Capital Health
Radon runs below the typical Canadian town (6.6%) in Fort Saskatchewan’s area, at 1.4%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Fort Saskatchewan’s area, at 1.4%, is below 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.
The quietest radon band, under 5%, holds 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns and Fort Saskatchewan; 63% sit 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.
A survey sample isn’t a map: any home in Fort Saskatchewan can be high, and a three-month test is the only way to know.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Fort Saskatchewan
Alerts for Fort Saskatchewan 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 Fort Saskatchewan 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 Fort Saskatchewan’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fort Saskatchewan | Moderate | $0.010 | 1.4% | Yes |
| Edmonton Energy And Technology Park 5,225 · 12 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | Yes |
| Fraser 3,973 · 12 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | Yes |
| Cy Becker 2,683 · 12 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Kirkness 5,279 · 13 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Bannerman 5,187 · 13 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | Yes |
| Brintnell 6,658 · 13 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
Edmonton Energy And Technology Park (low) has the heaviest fire record of Fort Saskatchewan’s neighbours, and Fort Saskatchewan (moderate) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Fort Saskatchewan faces
What to do about the hazards Fort Saskatchewan faces, and what to ask before you buy.
- 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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- How close is the forest edge?
- 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 Fort Saskatchewan 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; Fort Saskatchewan’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Fort Saskatchewan’s 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 Fort Saskatchewan.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Fort Saskatchewan
Is Fort Saskatchewan at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 3.8% of the land around Fort Saskatchewan since 1986 (last in 2025); at moderate, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
Does Fort Saskatchewan flood?
There is flood mapping for Fort Saskatchewan on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
Is radon a problem in Fort Saskatchewan?
Around Fort Saskatchewan, 73 survey homes were tested and 1.4% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How big is the earthquake risk in Fort Saskatchewan?
Expected earthquake damage in Fort Saskatchewan comes to $0.010 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
How is Fort Saskatchewan’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Fort Saskatchewan’s Hazard risk grade is A+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
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).