Photo: SempreVolando · CC BY 3.0Few places are as safe from hazards as Lac la Biche County: it beats 86% of Canadian towns
Burn scars are few around Lac la Biche County, with 0.9% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.02% a year). Shaking is less of a worry than in most places, at $0.004 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Radon is about average around Lac la Biche County: 9.6% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Lac la Biche County a grade of A; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Lac la Biche County’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Lac la Biche County: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Lac la Biche 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 Lac la Biche County: A
The grade weighs Lac la Biche County’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
Its place: #226 of 474 in Alberta and #563 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.
Little of the land around Lac la Biche County has burned: 0.5% within 5 km, 0.9% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Lac la Biche County’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
The land within 25 km of Lac la Biche County burns at 0.02% a year on average, the low band; the typical Canadian town: 0.000%.
There is forest near Lac la Biche County’s homes (17% within 5 km) and more of it further out (29% 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
Wainwright burns fastest in Alberta at 1.43% a year; Lac la Biche County, at 0.02%, ranks 47th of 478.
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.
The low band takes in 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, Lac la Biche County among them, though its rate is above zero; 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 Lac la Biche County
Flood studies whose area touches Lac la Biche County, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
No flood study on the national inventory covers Lac la Biche County; ask the municipality, which is the authority for its flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 46% of towns in Alberta have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%, and Lac la Biche County is not among them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Lac la Biche County floods.
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 Lac la Biche County: $0.004 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.
0.1 times the typical $0.030: Lac la Biche County’s $0.004 is low for Canada.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Lac la Biche County’s $0.004 sits under the median in Alberta, $0.013, and well under Black Diamond’s $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.
Lac la Biche County is among Canada’s quietest towns for earthquakes: 98% of the 2,611 expect more damage.
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 loss is to Lac la Biche County’s buildings alone, from ground shaking; infrastructure and secondary hazards are left out.
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 Lac la Biche County: 9.6% over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Around Lac la Biche County, 9.6% of tested homes topped the guideline, near the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Lac la Biche County than in most towns in Alberta: 9.6% over the guideline (7.5% is typical), 0.5% over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Lac la Biche County is in the 5–10% band with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% 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.
Basements, soil and how a house is sealed decide its radon, so in Lac la Biche County only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests: one figure for all of the Aspen Regional Health Authority
Weather and fire alerts for Lac la Biche County
Alerts for Lac la Biche County 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. |
Fire danger and active fires near Lac la Biche County are mapped daily by the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System; evacuation orders come from the municipality or province.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Get ready for what Lac la Biche County faces
What to do about the hazards Lac la Biche 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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Lac la Biche County’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- 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 Lac la Biche County sits in.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Shaking damage is modelled from the ground, the buildings and the odds of each quake, and published for whole subdivisions such as Lac la Biche County’s.
- 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 Lac la Biche County floods.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Lac la Biche County
Does Lac la Biche County flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Lac la Biche County’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
Is Lac la Biche County at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0.9% of the land around Lac la Biche County since 1986 (last in 2025); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
Is radon a problem in Lac la Biche County?
Around Lac la Biche County, 219 survey homes were tested and 9.6% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How big is the earthquake risk in Lac la Biche County?
Expected earthquake damage in Lac la Biche County comes to $0.004 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
How is Lac la Biche County’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Lac la Biche County 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).