Photo: Authentic Alberta · CC BY-SA 4.0Wildfire low, radon 8.1%: how Nanton stands on hazards
Wildfire is rare near Nanton: 0.1% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, a burn rate of 0.003% a year. Seismic risk in Nanton sits near the middle: $0.036 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Hazard risk gives Nanton a grade of B; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Nanton’s hazards
For Nanton, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Nanton faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Nanton grades B for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Nanton, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
Its place: #444 of 474 in Alberta and #1,449 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.
Wildfire is rare near Nanton: 0.1% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Nanton’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Low: the land around Nanton burns at 0.003% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Fire has stayed at least 23 km from Nanton’s homes since 1986.
With 0% forest fuel within 5 km and 0.4% within 25 km, the land around Nanton gives a fire little to burn.
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
Wainwright burns fastest in Alberta at 1.43% a year; Nanton, at 0.003%, ranks 71st of 478.
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.
Beside 2,610 Canadian towns, Nanton reads low, with 92% of them; only 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 Nanton
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Nanton: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists no study whose area touches Nanton, which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped.
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 46% of towns in Alberta have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%, and Nanton is not among them.
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 Nanton.
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.”
Expected shaking damage in Nanton: $0.036 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
With $0.036 of shaking damage a year per $1,000, Nanton is about even with the typical $0.030 (1.2 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Nanton’s $0.036 tops the median in Alberta, $0.013, though 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.
Neither high nor low for Canada: 46% of the 2,611 towns expect more damage than Nanton.
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 Nanton.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Radon about average around Nanton: 8.1% over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Near the middle for radon: Nanton’s area 8.1%, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon around Nanton is ordinary for towns in Alberta: 8.1%, beside a median of 7.5%.
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 Nanton’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.
A low area share in Nanton 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). · Data for radon tests covers the Calgary Health Region
Where to get warnings in Nanton
Alerts for Nanton 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 Nanton 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 Nanton faces
What to do about the hazards Nanton 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
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Nanton takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- 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 Nanton.
- Wildfire counts one way. Burned land within 25 km of where people live, averaged over 1986–2025 and checked for fuel near homes, is the measure; it looks back, not ahead, and only ever counts against Nanton.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Nanton’s included.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Nanton
How big is the earthquake risk in Nanton?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Nanton’s buildings lose $0.036 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
How is Nanton’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Nanton B, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Does Nanton flood?
Nothing is listed for Nanton on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
Is Nanton at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0.1% of the land within 25 km of Nanton has burned since 1986, the last in 1987, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
Is radon a problem in Nanton?
In Health Canada’s survey, 8.1% of 86 homes tested in Nanton’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
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).