Photo: Jacob Marfo · CC BY-SA 3.0La Crète faces fewer hazards than almost every Canadian town
Fire reaches the land around La Crète now and then: 8.4% within 25 km since 1986 (0.21% a year), below the high band. Seismic risk runs low: $0.005 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. In Health Canada’s survey, just 0.7% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). La Crète grades A+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about La Crète’s hazards
For La Crète, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What La Crète faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in La Crète: A+
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like La Crète with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #1 of 474 in Alberta and #3 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
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.
Some fire around La Crète: 8.4% of the land within 25 km since 1986, 8.1% within 5 km
Past fire around La Crète’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The yearly burn rate around La Crète is 0.21%, above 0.000% for the typical Canadian town but under the high band.
Forest fuel covers 37% of the land close to La Crète and 46% across 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
La Crète ranks 14th of the 478 towns in Alberta for burn rate, at 0.21% a year; Wainwright leads with 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.
La Crète is in the moderate band, which holds 5.4% of Canada’s 2,610 towns; 2.1% 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.
A flood study covers La Crète, from Government of Alberta: 1 on the inventory
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for La Crète: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
A 2024 study by Government of Alberta covers La Crète, and its map, not the inventory, shows the zones.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fort Vermilion Flood Study | Government of Alberta | 2024 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 46% of towns in Alberta have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%; La Crète is one of them.
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 La Crète’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.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
Earthquakes cost buildings in La Crète just $0.005 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
La Crète’s $0.005 is a fraction of the typical town’s $0.030 (0.2 times as much): quiet ground by Canadian standards.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in Alberta peaks in Black Diamond ($0.048); La Crète, at $0.005, is below the median of $0.013.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
At the bottom of Canada’s range, La Crète has 96% of the 2,611 towns above it.
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 La Crète 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).
0.7% of homes tested around La Crète are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Area-wide: radon tests, counted over the Northern Lights Health Region
La Crète’s survey area reads 0.7% over the guideline, under the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs lower around La Crète than in most towns in Alberta: 0.7% against 7.5%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
La Crète is in the lowest band, with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns: under 5% of tests over the guideline, while 63% 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 La Crète 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 La Crète
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for La Crète; 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 La Crète 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 La Crète faces
What to do about the hazards La Crète 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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- How close is the forest edge?
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. A study’s area can be a whole watershed or province, so being on the inventory says a map exists, not that a home in La Crète floods.
- Radon is a survey. The radon share comes from about 14,000 long-term home tests in 2009–2011, pooled for now by the 2007 health region La Crète sits in.
- 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 La Crète.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, La Crète’s included.
Questions about flooding and hazards in La Crète
How is La Crète’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
La Crète’s Hazard risk grade is A+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Does La Crète flood?
La Crète’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
Is La Crète at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 8.4% of the land within 25 km of La Crète has burned since 1986, the last in 2025, a moderate band that leaves Risk alone.
How big is the earthquake risk in La Crète?
In NRCan’s seismic model, La Crète’s buildings lose $0.005 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is radon a problem in La Crète?
In Health Canada’s survey, 0.7% of 144 homes tested in La Crète’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
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).