Photo: Wilson Hui from Calgary, Canada · CC BY 2.0Mayerthorpe’s hazards at a glance: a low wildfire record and 9.6% of area homes over the radon guideline
Burn scars are few around Mayerthorpe, with 0.1% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.003% a year). Seismic risk runs low: $0.014 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Hazard risk gives Mayerthorpe a grade of B+; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Mayerthorpe’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Mayerthorpe: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Mayerthorpe faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Mayerthorpe: B+
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Mayerthorpe with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Few fires near Mayerthorpe: 0% within 5 km, 0.1% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Mayerthorpe’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
In a typical year 0.003% of the land near Mayerthorpe burns; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%, and both are low.
The closest burn since 1986 lies 15 km from Mayerthorpe’s homes, none within 5 km.
16% of the land within 25 km of Mayerthorpe is forest fuel, yet only 1.8% within 5 km of its homes.
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
Mayerthorpe ranks 71st of the 479 towns in Alberta for burn rate, at 0.003% a year; Wainwright leads with 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.
Some fire is mapped around Mayerthorpe, but not enough to leave the low band, where 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are; 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.
No flood study is listed for Mayerthorpe
Flood studies whose area touches Mayerthorpe, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
The inventory has nothing for Mayerthorpe, but a local or conservation-authority map may still exist.
Towns with a flood study on file
No study touches Mayerthorpe; 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.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Mayerthorpe 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 Mayerthorpe: $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.
Mayerthorpe’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
Shaking damage around Mayerthorpe runs at $0.014 a year, near the $0.013 of the typical town in Alberta; 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.
Earthquakes cost less around Mayerthorpe than in 73% 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).
The loss is to Mayerthorpe’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).
Some radon around Mayerthorpe: 9.6% of area homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Mayerthorpe’s area sits close to the typical Canadian town: 9.6% over the guideline, against 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Mayerthorpe 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.
26% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have more homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Mayerthorpe’s 5–10% band, which holds 37%.
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 survey sampled homes around Mayerthorpe; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Data for radon tests covers the Aspen Regional Health Authority
Weather and fire alerts for Mayerthorpe
Alerts for Mayerthorpe 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 Mayerthorpe 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 Mayerthorpe faces
What to do about the hazards Mayerthorpe 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. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Mayerthorpe’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Mayerthorpe is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Mayerthorpe’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. NRCan’s inventory says where flood mapping exists, not where water goes; the map’s owner is the authority for Mayerthorpe.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Mayerthorpe
How is Mayerthorpe’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Mayerthorpe grades B+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Mayerthorpe?
Expected earthquake damage in Mayerthorpe comes to $0.014 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is radon a problem in Mayerthorpe?
In Health Canada’s survey, 9.6% of 219 homes tested in Mayerthorpe’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Is Mayerthorpe at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0.1% of the land within 25 km of Mayerthorpe has burned since 1986, the last in 2024, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
Does Mayerthorpe flood?
Nothing is listed for Mayerthorpe on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
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).