Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domainOlds’ hazards at a glance: a low wildfire record and 7.5% of area homes over the radon guideline
Fire has left almost no mark near Olds: 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. For earthquakes Olds is middling, $0.019 a year per $1,000 against $0.030 for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Olds a grade of A−, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Olds’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Olds: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Olds faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Olds: A−
Earthquake risk and radon make Olds’ grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
Its place: #260 of 474 in Alberta and #887 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
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.
Little of the land around Olds has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Olds’ residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
At 0.000% of the land a year, Olds’ burn rate is in the low band; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Little near Olds’ homes can carry a forest fire; only 0% of the land within 5 km is forest fuel, and 1.6% within 25 km.
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); Olds 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.
The low band holds 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, and Olds sits at its very bottom; only 7.5% are 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 Olds
Flood studies whose area touches Olds, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
The inventory has nothing for Olds, but a local or conservation-authority map may still exist.
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Alberta reaches 46% of towns, below the 58% across Canada, and not Olds.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Olds’ homes stand in a flood zone.
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.”
Earthquakes cost buildings in Olds $0.019 per $1,000 a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
0.6 times the typical $0.030: Olds’ $0.019 is ordinary.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in Alberta peaks in Black Diamond ($0.048); Olds, at $0.019, sits above the median of $0.013.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
66% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Olds.
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 Olds’ 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).
Radon about average around Olds: 7.5% over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Area-wide: radon tests, counted over the David Thompson Regional Health Authority
At 7.5% over the guideline, the area around Olds is about level with the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon around Olds is ordinary for towns in Alberta: 7.5%, 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.
37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns share Olds’ band of 5 to 10%; 26% sit higher.
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.
One home in Olds can be high while next door is low; a three-month test settles it.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Olds
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Olds; Alert Ready carries the urgent ones to phones, radio and TV.
| 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. |
Smoke and fire warnings for Olds come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Olds
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Olds | Low | $0.019 | 7.5% | None listed |
| Didsbury 5,185 · 15 km | Low | $0.017 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Bowden 1,315 · 16 km | Low | $0.015 | 7.5% | None listed |
| Mountain View County 14,802 · 18 km | Low | $0.018 | 8.1% | Yes |
Mountain View County burns a little more than Olds, in the same low band (low here).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Olds faces
Practical steps for Olds’ 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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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 Olds until then.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Olds without grading them.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Olds’ homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- 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 Olds’.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Olds
How is Olds’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Olds grades A− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is radon a problem in Olds?
The area’s survey found 7.5% of 107 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Olds.
How big is the earthquake risk in Olds?
About $0.019 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Olds.
Does Olds flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Olds, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
Is Olds at risk of wildfire?
Hardly at all on record: 0% of the land within 25 km of Olds since 1986, a low band, though small grass fires aren’t mapped.
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).