Photo: Wilson Hui from Calgary, Canada · CC BY 2.0Hazards in Grimshaw: wildfire low, radon over the guideline in 8.9% of tested homes
Little of the land around Grimshaw has burned: 0.5% within 25 km since 1986, or 0.01% a year. Seismic risk runs low: $0.013 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Grimshaw grades B+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Grimshaw’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Grimshaw: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Grimshaw faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Grimshaw: B+
Earthquake risk and radon make Grimshaw’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
Its place: #266 of 474 in Alberta and #932 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Wildfire is rare near Grimshaw: 0.5% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Grimshaw’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
In a typical year 0.01% of the land near Grimshaw burns; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%, and both are low.
Fire has stayed at least 6.4 km from Grimshaw’s homes since 1986.
Forest fuel rises from 2.8% within 5 km of Grimshaw to 6% within 25 km: the fuel lies away from 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 478
In the top quarter in Alberta: Grimshaw ranks 56th of 478 at 0.01% a year, with Wainwright first 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.
Some fire is mapped around Grimshaw, but not enough to leave the low band, where 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are; 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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Grimshaw
Flood studies whose area touches Grimshaw, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
No flood study on the national inventory covers Grimshaw; ask the municipality, which is the authority for its flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Alberta, 46% of towns against 58% nationally, and Grimshaw has none.
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 Grimshaw 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.”
Little shaking expected in Grimshaw: $0.013 a year per $1,000
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
At $0.013 per $1,000, Grimshaw carries 0.4 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030): low.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Neither high nor low in Alberta: Grimshaw’s $0.013 sits by the median of $0.013, while Black Diamond reaches $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.
Grimshaw is in the lower part of Canada’s range for earthquake risk; 75% of the 2,611 towns are higher.
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 model counts damage to Grimshaw’s buildings and their occupants from shaking only: not liquefaction, landslides, tsunami or fires after a quake.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
8.9% of homes tested around Grimshaw are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Shared with the rest of the Peace Country Health: radon tests
8.9% of tested homes around Grimshaw were over the guideline, much like the typical Canadian town at 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Ordinary for towns in Alberta at 8.9% over 200 Bq/m³ (7.5% is the median), the area around Grimshaw had 1% over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Radon tops the guideline in a modest share of homes around Grimshaw, a band holding 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% rank above.
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 Grimshaw 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).
Weather and fire alerts for Grimshaw
Alerts for Grimshaw 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. |
Alert Ready carries evacuation orders for Grimshaw to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Grimshaw’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grimshaw | Low | $0.013 | 8.9% | None listed |
| Peace No. 135 1,581 · 9.5 km | Low | $0.013 | 8.9% | Yes |
Peace No. 135 (low) has the heaviest fire record of Grimshaw’s neighbours, and Grimshaw (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Grimshaw faces
Practical steps for Grimshaw’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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Grimshaw’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- 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 Grimshaw until then.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Grimshaw without grading them.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Grimshaw’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Grimshaw
How is Grimshaw’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Grimshaw grades B+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is Grimshaw at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Grimshaw’s band is low, with 0.5% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2024), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Grimshaw?
About $0.013 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Grimshaw.
Does Grimshaw flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Grimshaw (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
Is radon a problem in Grimshaw?
8.9% of the 203 homes Health Canada tested around Grimshaw topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
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).