Hazard risk in Fox Creek is higher than in 98% of Canadian towns
Wildfire is a real hazard for Fox Creek: 26% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, 0.66% a year, in the high band. 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, 8.9% of homes tested in Fox Creek’s area exceeded 200 Bq/m³, close to the typical 6.6%. Fox Creek grades D− for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Fox Creek’s hazards
For Fox Creek, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Fox Creek faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Fox Creek grades D− for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Fox Creek with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
8.8% of the land near Fox Creek’s homes has burned since 1986, 26% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Fox Creek’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
At 0.66% of the land a year, Fox Creek’s burn rate is high, many times the typical Canadian town’s 0.000%.
The nearer ring around Fox Creek is less wooded (67% forest fuel) than the land out to 25 km (79%).
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 Fox Creek burns at 0.66% a year, the 5th 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.
High is rare: 1.9% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, Fox Creek among them, with 0.2% higher still.
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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Fox Creek
Flood studies whose area touches Fox Creek, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
The inventory has nothing for Fox Creek, but a local or conservation-authority map may still exist.
Towns with a flood study on file
Fox Creek 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.
Nothing here counts toward Risk; the studies are pointers to the maps their owners keep for Fox Creek.
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 Fox Creek: $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: Fox Creek’s $0.013 is low for Canada.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Fox Creek’s $0.013 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.
Most of Canada’s 2,611 towns (75%) face more earthquake damage than Fox Creek.
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).
For Fox Creek the model prices shaking damage to buildings, nothing more.
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 Fox Creek: 8.9% of area homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Fox Creek’s area, at 8.9%, is close to the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town. Figures for radon tests are published for the Peace Country Health as a whole, not for Fox Creek alone.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
1% of tests around Fox Creek 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.
Fox Creek is in the 5–10% band with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% 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.
Neighbouring homes in Fox Creek 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).
Where to get warnings in Fox Creek
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Fox Creek; 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 Fox Creek come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Get ready for what Fox Creek faces
What to do about the hazards Fox Creek 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?
- 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
- Radon is a survey. Radon figures pool the survey’s home tests by area: postal areas once their boundaries arrive, the 2007 health region around Fox Creek until then.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Fox Creek, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Fox Creek without grading them.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Fox Creek’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
Questions about flooding and hazards in Fox Creek
How is Fox Creek’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Fox Creek’s Hazard risk grade is D−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Does Fox Creek flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Fox Creek’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
Is Fox Creek at risk of wildfire?
More than most Canadian towns; Fox Creek’s high band rests on 26% of nearby land burned since 1986 (most recently 2023).
How big is the earthquake risk in Fox Creek?
Expected earthquake damage in Fox Creek comes to $0.013 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is radon a problem in Fox Creek?
Around Fox Creek, 203 survey homes were tested and 8.9% 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).