Photo: Umbra Lab, Inc. · CC BY 4.0A flood study covers Lacombe County: 3 on the national inventory, the newest from Government of Alberta
For Lacombe County, wildfire history is close to nil: 0% of nearby land since 1986, 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. About as many homes carry radon around Lacombe County as elsewhere, 7.5% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Lacombe County grades A− for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Lacombe County’s hazards
For Lacombe County, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Lacombe County faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Lacombe County grades A− for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Lacombe 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 Lacombe County has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Lacombe County’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Low: the land around Lacombe County burns at 0.000% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Around Lacombe County the forest is thin or far off: 0.6% of the land within 5 km and 2.1% within 25 km is forest fuel.
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 Lacombe 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.
Lacombe County shares the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, its burn rate rounding to nothing; 7.5% 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.
Lacombe County is on the flood map inventory: 3 studies, latest by Government of Alberta
Flood studies whose area touches Lacombe County, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
3 studies on the inventory touch Lacombe County, the newest Government of Alberta’s from 2025, and their areas can be large, so they say maps exist, not that the town floods.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red Deer River Flood Study | Government of Alberta | 2025 | final |
| Eckville Flood Hazard Study | Government of Alberta | 2006 | final |
| Lacombe Flood Hazard Study | Government of Alberta | 1996 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Lacombe County is one of the 46% of towns in Alberta with a flood study on file, fewer than Canada’s 58%.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
No single decade dominates: 3 studies for Lacombe County between the 1990s and the 2020s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Lacombe County.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Lacombe 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.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
Little shaking expected in Lacombe County: $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.
Lacombe 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
Lacombe 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.
Lacombe 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 Lacombe 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).
Some radon around Lacombe County: 7.5% of area homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Radon tests for the David Thompson Regional Health Authority
Around Lacombe County, 7.5% of tested homes topped the guideline, near the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Lacombe 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.
Lacombe 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.
A low area share in Lacombe County doesn’t clear a house, nor does a high one condemn it: test.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Lacombe County
Alerts for Lacombe 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. |
Alert Ready carries evacuation orders for Lacombe County to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Lacombe County’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lacombe County | Low | $0.014 | 7.5% | Yes |
| Lacombe 14,733 · 4.2 km | Low | $0.016 | 7.5% | Yes |
| Blackfalds 12,258 · 7.3 km | Low | $0.018 | 7.5% | Yes |
| Bentley 1,153 · 18 km | Low | $0.009 | 7.5% | None listed |
Lacombe (low) has the heaviest fire record of Lacombe County’s neighbours, and Lacombe County (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Lacombe County faces
What to do about the hazards Lacombe 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
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Lacombe County takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Lacombe 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.
- 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 Lacombe County.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Lacombe County’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
Questions about flooding and hazards in Lacombe County
How big is the earthquake risk in Lacombe County?
About $0.014 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Lacombe County.
Is radon a problem in Lacombe County?
In Health Canada’s survey, 7.5% of 107 homes tested in Lacombe County’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
How is Lacombe County’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Lacombe County A−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Does Lacombe County flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Lacombe County; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
Is Lacombe County at risk of wildfire?
Hardly at all on record: 0% of the land within 25 km of Lacombe County since 1986, a low band, though small grass fires aren’t mapped.
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).