Photo: Rural Health Professions Action Plan from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada · CC BY 2.0Flood mapping exists for Kneehill County: 2 on record, latest by Government of Alberta
Wildfire isn’t Kneehill County’s worry: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (0.000% a year). Shaking is less of a worry than in most places, at $0.014 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Radon is about average around Kneehill County: 7.5% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Kneehill County a grade of A−, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Kneehill County’s hazards
For Kneehill County, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Kneehill County faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Kneehill County: A−
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Kneehill County with little fire nearby would get no credit for 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.
Little of the land around Kneehill County has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Kneehill County’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
With 0.000% burned a year, Kneehill County is among the many low-band places (the typical Canadian town 0.000%).
Little near Kneehill County’s homes can carry a forest fire; only 0% of the land within 5 km is forest fuel, and 0.1% 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
Little or nothing burns around Kneehill County in a typical year; 386 of the 478 towns in Alberta share that, and Wainwright leads 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; Kneehill County 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.
Flooding around Kneehill County is mapped in 2 studies, the newest by Government of Alberta
Flood studies whose area touches Kneehill County, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
For Kneehill County the inventory points to 2 studies, most recently Government of Alberta’s in 2024.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drumheller Flood Study | Government of Alberta | 2024 | final |
| Carbon Flood Hazard Study | Government of Alberta | 2008 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Alberta, 46% of towns against 58% nationally, but Kneehill County has one.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
No single decade dominates: 2 studies for Kneehill County between the 2000s and the 2020s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Kneehill County.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Kneehill County’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.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
Low seismic risk in Kneehill County: $0.014 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.
Kneehill County’s $0.014 is a fraction of the typical town’s $0.030 (0.5 times as much): quiet ground by Canadian standards.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Kneehill County’s $0.014 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.
Kneehill County is in the lower part of Canada’s range for earthquake risk; 73% 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).
For Kneehill County 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).
Radon about average around Kneehill County: 7.5% over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Source area for radon tests: the David Thompson Regional Health Authority
At 7.5% over the guideline, the area around Kneehill County is about level with the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Kneehill County, 7.5% of tests topped the guideline, about the same as 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.
A middling share of high tests puts Kneehill County with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, below 26% of them.
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.
Whatever Kneehill County’s area share, the reading that matters is your own home’s, over a winter.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Kneehill County
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Kneehill County; 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. |
For fires near Kneehill County, the national fire information system maps danger and active fires daily; local authorities give any evacuation order.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Kneehill County’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kneehill County | Low | $0.014 | 7.5% | Yes |
| Three Hills 3,502 · 2.1 km | Low | $0.012 | 7.5% | None listed |
| Trochu 1,191 · 13 km | Low | $0.013 | 7.5% | None listed |
Three Hills (low) has the heaviest fire record of Kneehill County’s neighbours, and Kneehill County (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Kneehill County faces
What to do about the hazards Kneehill County faces, and what to ask before you buy.
- 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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. The flood inventory points to maps; it is incomplete and not the official source, so ask the municipality about any street in Kneehill County.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Kneehill County, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Kneehill County takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Kneehill County’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
Questions about flooding and hazards in Kneehill County
Is radon a problem in Kneehill County?
In Health Canada’s survey, 7.5% of 107 homes tested in Kneehill County’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Does Kneehill County flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Kneehill County; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
How is Kneehill County’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Kneehill County A−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is Kneehill County at risk of wildfire?
The burned-area record shows next to nothing around Kneehill County (0% within 25 km since 1986), so its band is low.
How big is the earthquake risk in Kneehill County?
About $0.014 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Kneehill County.
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).