Photo: Miguel Tremblay · Public domainLamont faces fewer hazards than 97% of Canadian towns
Wildfire is a moderate presence around Lamont: 6.1% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, 0.19% a year, short of the band that counts against Risk. Earthquakes matter little: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.006 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. In Health Canada’s survey, 5.2% of homes tested in Lamont’s area exceeded 200 Bq/m³, close to the typical 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Lamont a grade of A+; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Lamont’s hazards
For Lamont, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Lamont faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Lamont: A+
Two inputs always count for Lamont, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
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.
A moderate wildfire record for Lamont: 6.1% within 25 km burned, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Lamont’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
At 0.19% of the land a year, Lamont’s burn rate is moderate; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
No fire has burned within 5 km of Lamont’s homes since 1986; the nearest burn is 7.5 km away.
Land that isn’t forest covers nearly all the ground around Lamont: forest fuel is 0% within 5 km and 0.8% 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 479
Wainwright burns fastest in Alberta at 1.43% a year; Lamont, at 0.19%, ranks 17th of 479.
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.
Lamont 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.
Government of Alberta has mapped flooding for Lamont (1 study)
Flood studies whose area touches Lamont, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Government of Alberta studied flooding in an area that includes Lamont (1998); open its map to see which streets lie in a flood zone.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lamont Flood Hazard Study | Government of Alberta | 1998 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Alberta reaches 46% of towns, Lamont among them, below the 58% across Canada.
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 Lamont 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.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Lamont just $0.006 per $1,000 a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
0.2 times the typical $0.030: Lamont’s $0.006 is low for Canada.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Alberta expects $0.013 a year in shaking damage; Lamont expects less, $0.006, and Black Diamond the most, $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.
Earthquakes cost less around Lamont than in 88% of Canada’s 2,611 towns.
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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in Lamont is counted; landslides, liquefaction, tsunami and fire after a quake aren’t.
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 Lamont: 5.2% 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 East Central Health
Lamont’s area sits close to the typical Canadian town: 5.2% over the guideline, against 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Fewer homes top the guideline around Lamont (5.2%) than in the typical town in Alberta (7.5%), yet 1% went over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Lamont 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.
Health Canada advises testing every home, Lamont’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Lamont
Alerts for Lamont 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 Lamont 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)
Hazards in the places around Lamont
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lamont | Moderate | $0.006 | 5.2% | Yes |
| Bruderheim 1,439 · 11 km | Moderate | $0.006 | 5.2% | None listed |
| Lamont County 3,918 · 15 km | Moderate | $0.007 | 5.2% | Yes |
Lamont’s moderate band tops its neighbours; Bruderheim is next (moderate).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Lamont faces
What to do about the hazards Lamont 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
- Wildfire counts one way. For Lamont, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Lamont’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Radon is a survey. Radon figures pool the survey’s home tests by area: postal areas once their boundaries arrive, the 2007 health region around Lamont until then.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Lamont without grading them.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Lamont
How is Lamont’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Lamont grades A+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Lamont?
About $0.006 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Lamont.
Is radon a problem in Lamont?
Around Lamont, 97 survey homes were tested and 5.2% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Does Lamont flood?
A flood study covers Lamont on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
Is Lamont at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 6.1% of the land around Lamont since 1986 (last in 2025); at moderate, it neither helps nor hurts 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).