Photo: Joningham · CC BY-SA 4.0Innisfail’s hazards at a glance: a low wildfire record and 7.5% of area homes over the radon guideline
No wildfire is mapped within 25 km of Innisfail’s homes since 1986 (0% of the land, 0.000% a year). Earthquakes matter little: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.014 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Innisfail grades A− for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Innisfail’s hazards
For Innisfail, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Innisfail faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Innisfail: A−
Seismic risk and radon set Innisfail’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
Its place: #241 of 474 in Alberta and #660 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 Innisfail: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Innisfail’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Low: the land around Innisfail burns at 0.000% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Little near Innisfail’s homes can carry a forest fire; only 3% of the land within 5 km is forest fuel, and 1.3% 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
Fire has taken almost none of the land around Innisfail, as for 386 of the 478 towns in Alberta; Wainwright tops the list 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.
92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are in the low band and 7.5% above it; Innisfail is among the many where the yearly burn rate rounds to zero.
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 Innisfail
Flood studies whose area touches Innisfail, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Nationally, Innisfail has no listed flood study; the municipality is the place to ask.
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Alberta, 46% of towns against 58% nationally, and Innisfail has none.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Innisfail’s homes are at risk.
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 Innisfail: $0.014 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 $0.014 per $1,000, Innisfail carries 0.5 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030): low.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Shaking damage around Innisfail runs at $0.014 a year, near the $0.013 of the typical town in Alberta; Black Diamond has $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.
73% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Innisfail.
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 Innisfail.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Radon about average around Innisfail: 7.5% 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 David Thompson Regional Health Authority
Innisfail’s area sits close to the typical Canadian town: 7.5% over the guideline, against 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon around Innisfail is ordinary for towns in Alberta: 7.5%, beside a median of 7.5%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns share Innisfail’s band of 5 to 10%; 26% 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.
Radon varies from house to house in Innisfail, so the survey is a reason to test, not a result for yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Innisfail
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Innisfail; 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 Innisfail come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Innisfail
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Innisfail | Low | $0.014 | 7.5% | None listed |
| Bowden 1,315 · 11 km | Low | $0.015 | 7.5% | None listed |
| Penhold 3,812 · 14 km | Low | $0.023 | 7.5% | Yes |
| Red Deer County 22,076 · 18 km | Low | $0.015 | 7.5% | Yes |
Among its neighbours Innisfail has the most fire on record (low); Bowden follows (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Innisfail faces
Practical steps for Innisfail’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
- Wildfire counts one way. For Innisfail, 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. NRCan’s inventory says where flood mapping exists, not where water goes; the map’s owner is the authority for Innisfail.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Innisfail is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Innisfail’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
Questions about flooding and hazards in Innisfail
Is radon a problem in Innisfail?
7.5% of the 107 homes Health Canada tested around Innisfail topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
Is Innisfail at risk of wildfire?
No meaningful wildfire history near Innisfail: 0% of nearby land since 1986, band low.
How big is the earthquake risk in Innisfail?
About $0.014 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Innisfail.
Does Innisfail flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Innisfail (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
How is Innisfail’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Innisfail grades A− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
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).