Photo: Carl Young · CC BY-SA 4.0High Level faces more hazards than 98% of Canadian towns
Fire is a regular visitor: 26% of the land within 25 km of High Level has burned since 1986 (0.66% a year). Earthquakes matter little: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.005 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. In Health Canada’s survey, just 0.7% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Hazard risk gives High Level a grade of D−; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about High Level’s hazards
For High Level, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What High Level faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
High Level grades D− for hazard risk
Seismic risk and radon set High Level’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
Its place: #470 of 474 in Alberta and #2,577 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.
14% of the land near High Level’s homes has burned since 1986, 26% within 25 km
Past fire around High Level’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
At 0.66% of the land a year, High Level’s burn rate is high, many times the typical Canadian town’s 0.000%.
Within 5 km of High Level, 25% of the land is forest fuel; widen the ring to 25 km and it is 40%.
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: High Level ranks 5th of 478 at 0.66% 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.
Just 1.9% of Canada’s 2,610 towns burn fast enough for the high band where High Level sits; 0.2% burn faster.
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 High Level
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for High Level: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
NRCan’s inventory is silent on High Level, so any flood map would be the municipality’s own.
Towns with a flood study on file
High Level 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.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of High Level’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.”
Earthquakes cost buildings in High Level just $0.005 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.005 per $1,000, High Level carries 0.2 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030): low.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Alberta expects $0.013 a year in shaking damage; High Level expects less, $0.005, 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.
Nearly every one of Canada’s 2,611 towns (96%) expects more shaking damage than High Level.
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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in High Level is counted; landslides, liquefaction, tsunami and fire after a quake aren’t.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Radon runs low around High Level: 0.7% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Radon runs below the typical Canadian town (6.6%) in High Level’s area, at 0.7%. Nobody publishes radon tests for High Level alone, so this card uses the figure for the Northern Lights Health Region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Fewer homes top the guideline around High Level (0.7%) than in the typical town in Alberta (7.5%).
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Few tests over the guideline: High Level shares the bottom band with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, below the other 63%.
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.
Health Canada advises testing every home, High Level’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in High Level
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for High Level; 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 High Level 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 High Level faces
Practical steps for High Level’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
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, High Level’s included.
- Wildfire counts one way. Burned land within 25 km of where people live, averaged over 1986–2025 and checked for fuel near homes, is the measure; it looks back, not ahead, and only ever counts against High Level.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for High Level is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- 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 High Level.
Questions about flooding and hazards in High Level
Is High Level at risk of wildfire?
It is: 26% of the land within 25 km of High Level has burned since 1986, the latest in 2024, which puts it in the high band that lowers Risk.
How big is the earthquake risk in High Level?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in High Level $0.005 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
How is High Level’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives High Level D−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is radon a problem in High Level?
0.7% of the 144 homes Health Canada tested around High Level topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
Does High Level flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers High Level (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
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).