Hazards in Louis Bull 138B: wildfire low, radon over the guideline in 7.5% of tested homes
Wildfire isn’t Louis Bull 138B’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 $0.012 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Hazard risk gives Louis Bull 138B a grade of A−, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Louis Bull 138B’s hazards
For Louis Bull 138B, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Louis Bull 138B faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Louis Bull 138B grades A− for hazard risk
Seismic risk and radon set Louis Bull 138B’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
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.
Few fires near Louis Bull 138B: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Louis Bull 138B’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Low: the land around Louis Bull 138B burns at 0.000% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Land that isn’t forest covers nearly all the ground around Louis Bull 138B: forest fuel is 0% within 5 km and 0.4% 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
Of the 479 towns in Alberta, 387 have a burn rate that rounds to zero, Louis Bull 138B among them; Wainwright leads at 1.43% a year.
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; Louis Bull 138B 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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Louis Bull 138B
Flood studies whose area touches Louis Bull 138B, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Nationally, Louis Bull 138B has no listed flood study; the municipality is the place to ask.
Towns with a flood study on file
No study touches Louis Bull 138B; in Alberta, 46% of towns have one, below Canada’s 58%.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Louis Bull 138B.
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 Louis Bull 138B: $0.012 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.
Shaking costs the typical town $0.030 a year; in Louis Bull 138B it is only $0.012, 0.4 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Neither high nor low in Alberta: Louis Bull 138B’s $0.012 sits by the median of $0.013, while Black Diamond reaches $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.
84% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Louis Bull 138B.
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).
What a quake does after the shaking, fire, landslides, tsunami, falls outside NRCan’s figure for Louis Bull 138B.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
7.5% of homes tested around Louis Bull 138B are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Measured across the David Thompson Regional Health Authority: radon tests
7.5% of tested homes around Louis Bull 138B were over the guideline, much like the typical Canadian town at 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Louis Bull 138B’s area, at 7.5%, is close to the median in Alberta (7.5%).
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Between 5% and 10% of tests over the guideline: Louis Bull 138B, and 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% are higher.
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 Louis Bull 138B 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 Louis Bull 138B
Alerts for Louis Bull 138B 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. |
Evacuation orders for Louis Bull 138B come from the municipality or the province, while CWFIS maps fire danger every day.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Louis Bull 138B
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Louis Bull 138B | Low | $0.012 | 7.5% | None listed |
| Ermineskin 138 2,359 · 8.3 km | Low | $0.015 | 7.5% | None listed |
| Samson 137 3,427 · 15 km | Low | $0.016 | 7.5% | None listed |
| Wetaskiwin 13,703 · 17 km | Low | $0.017 | 7.5% | None listed |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Louis Bull 138B (low); Ermineskin 138 comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Louis Bull 138B faces
Practical steps for Louis Bull 138B’s hazards, most pressing first.
- 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
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Louis Bull 138B’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- 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 Louis Bull 138B sits in.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Louis Bull 138B, 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. 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 Louis Bull 138B floods.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Louis Bull 138B
Is radon a problem in Louis Bull 138B?
The area’s survey found 7.5% of 107 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Louis Bull 138B.
Does Louis Bull 138B flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Louis Bull 138B, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
Is Louis Bull 138B at risk of wildfire?
The burned-area record shows next to nothing around Louis Bull 138B (0% within 25 km since 1986), so its band is low.
How is Louis Bull 138B’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Louis Bull 138B A−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
How big is the earthquake risk in Louis Bull 138B?
Expected earthquake damage in Louis Bull 138B comes to $0.012 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
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).