Photo: awmcphee · CC BY-SA 4.0Manning is on Canada’s flood inventory: 1 listed, led by Government of Alberta
Some 6% of the land within 25 km of Manning has burned since 1986; at 0.15% a year that is moderate, not high. Seismic risk runs low: $0.007 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. About as many homes carry radon around Manning as elsewhere, 8.9% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Manning a grade of A−; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Manning’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Manning: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Manning faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Manning grades A− for hazard risk
The grade weighs Manning’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
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.
Fire reaches the land around Manning: 0.4% within 5 km, 6% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Manning’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Moderate: the land around Manning burns at 0.15% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Close to Manning there is little to burn (0.6% forest fuel within 5 km), but 29% of the land within 25 km is forest.
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
At 0.15% a year, Manning is near the top in Alberta: 20th of 479, behind Wainwright (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.
Manning 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.
Manning is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Government of Alberta
Flood studies whose area touches Manning, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
For Manning the inventory points to Government of Alberta’s 2000 study, whose map is the one to check.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manning Flood Hazard Study | Government of Alberta | 2000 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 46% of towns in Alberta have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%; Manning is one of 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 Manning 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.
Low seismic risk in Manning: $0.007 per $1,000 of buildings a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Manning’s $0.007 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
Below the middle in Alberta: Manning’s $0.007 against a median of $0.013; Black Diamond has $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.
Most of Canada’s 2,611 towns (88%) face more earthquake damage than Manning.
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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Manning’s figure, nor landslides or tsunami: it is buildings and shaking.
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 Manning: 8.9% of area homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
8.9% of tested homes around Manning were over the guideline, much like the typical Canadian town at 6.6%. Behind radon tests sits data gathered across the Peace Country Health, with Manning one part of it.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
1% of tests around Manning passed 600 Bq/m³; over 200, its 8.9% matches 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.
Manning 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.
The share describes the area, not a house: in Manning as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Manning
Alerts for Manning 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 Manning 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 Manning
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manning | Moderate | $0.007 | 8.9% | Yes |
| Northern Lights County 4,115 · 17 km | High | $0.008 | 8.9% | Yes |
Northern Lights County has the most fire around it, a high band against Manning’s moderate.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Manning faces
What to do about the hazards Manning 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 Manning 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 Manning sits in.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Manning’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Manning’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Manning
Does Manning flood?
Manning’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
How is Manning’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Manning grades A− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is Manning at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 6% of the land within 25 km of Manning has burned since 1986, the last in 2025, a moderate band that leaves Risk alone.
Is radon a problem in Manning?
In Health Canada’s survey, 8.9% of 203 homes tested in Manning’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
How big is the earthquake risk in Manning?
About $0.007 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Manning.
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).