Photo: Kappakapa · CC BY 3.0Wildfire moderate, radon 8.9%: how Nobleford stands on hazards
Some 2.6% of the land within 25 km of Nobleford has burned since 1986; at 0.07% a year that is moderate, not high. For earthquakes Nobleford is middling, $0.026 a year per $1,000 against $0.030 for the typical town. Nobleford grades B for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Nobleford’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Nobleford: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Nobleford faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Nobleford: B
The grade weighs Nobleford’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.
A moderate wildfire record for Nobleford: 2.6% within 25 km burned, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Nobleford’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
At 0.07% of the land a year, Nobleford’s burn rate is moderate; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
No fire has burned within 5 km of Nobleford’s homes since 1986; the nearest burn is 18 km away.
Forest makes up 0% of the land within 5 km of Nobleford and 0% within 25 km, little for a forest fire to run through.
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
Wainwright burns fastest in Alberta at 1.43% a year; Nobleford, at 0.07%, ranks 34th of 479.
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.
Only 5.4% of Canada’s 2,610 towns share the moderate band with Nobleford, and 2.1% sit above it.
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 Nobleford
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Nobleford: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Nationally, Nobleford has no listed flood study; the municipality is the place to ask.
Towns with a flood study on file
No study touches Nobleford; 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 mapping is shown for Nobleford 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.”
Expected shaking damage in Nobleford: $0.026 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Earthquake losses in Nobleford, $0.026 per $1,000, are in line with the typical $0.030 (0.9 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Above the middle in Alberta: Nobleford’s $0.026 against a median of $0.013, with Black Diamond highest at $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.
Around half of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Nobleford (53%).
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 Nobleford’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 Nobleford: 8.9% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
The survey area of Nobleford reads 8.9%, a shade from the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. Nobleford doesn’t get its own radon tests figures; the ones here come from the Chinook Regional Health Authority.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Ordinary for towns in Alberta at 8.9% over 200 Bq/m³ (7.5% is the median), the area around Nobleford had 0.9% over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
A middling share of high tests puts Nobleford with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, below 26% of them.
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 Nobleford; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Nobleford
Alerts for Nobleford 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 Nobleford to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Nobleford
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nobleford | Moderate | $0.026 | 8.9% | None listed |
| Coalhurst 3,244 · 18 km | Moderate | $0.029 | 8.9% | None listed |
| Lethbridge County 10,988 · 19 km | Low | $0.024 | 8.9% | Yes |
Coalhurst burns a little more than Nobleford, in the same moderate band (moderate here).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Nobleford faces
What to do about the hazards Nobleford 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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- How close is the forest edge?
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Earthquakes are modelled. Shaking damage is modelled from the ground, the buildings and the odds of each quake, and published for whole subdivisions such as Nobleford’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Nobleford’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- 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 Nobleford sits in.
- 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 Nobleford floods.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Nobleford
Does Nobleford flood?
Nothing is listed for Nobleford on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
How big is the earthquake risk in Nobleford?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Nobleford $0.026 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is Nobleford at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 2.6% of the land within 25 km of Nobleford has burned since 1986, the last in 2012, a moderate band that leaves Risk alone.
How is Nobleford’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Nobleford grades B for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is radon a problem in Nobleford?
In Health Canada’s survey, 8.9% of 112 homes tested in Nobleford’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).