Photo: Brett Snyder ( 1brettsnyder at en.wikipedia ) · CC BY 1.0Few places are as safe from hazards as Newell County: it beats 86% of Canadian towns
Since 1986 almost nothing has burned near Newell County: 0% of the land within 25 km, or 0.000% a year. NRCan expects $0.016 of shaking damage a year per $1,000 of buildings in Newell County, near the typical $0.030. Radon around Newell County is ordinary for Canada: 4.4% of tested homes over the guideline (6.6% typical). Newell County grades A for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Newell County’s hazards
For Newell County, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Newell County faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Newell County: A
For Newell County, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
Its place: #223 of 474 in Alberta and #523 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
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.
Little of the land around Newell County has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Newell County’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
At 0.000% of the land a year, Newell County’s burn rate is in the low band; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Nothing inside 5 km of Newell County’s homes has burned since 1986, and the nearest scar is 25 km off.
Around Newell County the forest is thin or far off: 0% of the land within 5 km and 0% within 25 km is forest fuel.
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
Among the 478 towns in Alberta, Wainwright burns fastest (1.43% a year); Newell County is with the 386 near zero.
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.
Newell County shares the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, its burn rate rounding to nothing; 7.5% burn faster.
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 Newell County (1 study)
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Newell County: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Government of Alberta holds the flood mapping that covers Newell County (2024), linked below.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Siksika Bow River Flood Study | Government of Alberta | 2024 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Newell County is one of the 46% of towns in Alberta with a flood study on file, fewer than Canada’s 58%.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood mapping is shown for Newell County to be opened and checked, never turned into a grade.
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.
Ordinary seismic risk in Newell County: $0.016 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
With $0.016 of shaking damage a year per $1,000, Newell County is about even with the typical $0.030 (0.5 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Neither high nor low in Alberta: Newell County’s $0.016 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.
Toward the quiet end of Canada’s range: 71% of its 2,611 towns sit above Newell County.
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).
For Newell County the model prices shaking damage to buildings, nothing more.
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 Newell County: 4.4% over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
4.4% of tested homes around Newell County were over the guideline, much like the typical Canadian town at 6.6%. Nobody publishes radon tests for Newell County alone, so this card uses the figure for the Palliser Health Region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Newell County’s area, at 4.4%, is below the median in Alberta (7.5%), though 2.2% of its tests passed 600 Bq/m³.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Few tests over the guideline: Newell County shares the bottom band with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, below the other 63%.
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.
Whatever Newell County’s area share, the reading that matters is your own home’s, over a winter.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Newell County
Alerts for Newell County 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. |
Alert Ready carries evacuation orders for Newell County to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Newell County’s neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
The neighbour with the most fire is Brooks (low), still no more than Newell County (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Newell County faces
Practical steps for Newell County’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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Newell County’s included.
- 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 Newell County.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Newell County without grading them.
- 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 Newell County until then.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Newell County
Is Newell County at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Newell County’s low band (0% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2025) is short of the level that counts.
Does Newell County flood?
A flood study covers Newell County on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
How big is the earthquake risk in Newell County?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Newell County $0.016 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
How is Newell County’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Newell County A, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is radon a problem in Newell County?
The area’s survey found 4.4% of 91 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Newell County.
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).