Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domainPiikani 147’s hazards at a glance: a moderate wildfire record and 8.9% of area homes over the radon guideline
The burn rate around Piikani 147 is 0.19% a year (7.6% of the land within 25 km since 1986), a moderate band. Shaking is about as much of a worry in Piikani 147 as in most places, at $0.044 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Hazard risk gives Piikani 147 a grade of C+; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Piikani 147’s hazards
For Piikani 147, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Piikani 147 faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Piikani 147 grades C+ for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Piikani 147 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. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Some fire around Piikani 147: 7.6% of the land within 25 km since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Piikani 147’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
At 0.19% of the land a year, Piikani 147’s burn rate is moderate; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Since 1986 the nearest fire to Piikani 147’s homes came within 9.8 km, never inside 5 km.
Only 1.5% of the land within 25 km of Piikani 147 is forest fuel, and 0% close in.
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
The land around Piikani 147 burns at 0.19% a year, the 17th highest rate of 479 towns in Alberta; Wainwright tops it at 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.
Piikani 147 is in the moderate band, which holds 5.4% of Canada’s 2,610 towns; 2.1% 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 Piikani 147
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Piikani 147: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The inventory has nothing for Piikani 147, 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 Piikani 147.
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 Piikani 147’s 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.”
Ordinary seismic risk in Piikani 147: $0.044 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Nothing unusual about Piikani 147’s ground: $0.044 against a typical $0.030, 1.5 times.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in Alberta peaks in Black Diamond ($0.048); Piikani 147, at $0.044, 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.
Piikani 147 sits above most of Canada’s 2,611 towns on earthquake risk; 32% are higher.
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 Piikani 147 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).
Some radon around Piikani 147: 8.9% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Shared with the rest of the Chinook Regional Health Authority: radon tests
Piikani 147’s area sits close to the typical Canadian town: 8.9% over the guideline, against 6.6%.
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 Piikani 147 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 Piikani 147 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.
A low area share in Piikani 147 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).
Where to get warnings in Piikani 147
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Piikani 147; 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. |
For fires near Piikani 147, the national fire information system maps danger and active fires daily; local authorities give any evacuation order.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Piikani 147
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Piikani 147 | Moderate | $0.044 | 8.9% | None listed |
| Pincher Creek 3,890 · 17 km | Low | $0.042 | 8.9% | Yes |
Pincher Creek (low) has the heaviest fire record of Piikani 147’s neighbours, and Piikani 147 (moderate) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Piikani 147 faces
What to do about the hazards Piikani 147 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
- 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 Piikani 147.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Piikani 147, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Piikani 147’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Piikani 147 is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Piikani 147
How big is the earthquake risk in Piikani 147?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Piikani 147 $0.044 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Does Piikani 147 flood?
Nothing is listed for Piikani 147 on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
Is Piikani 147 at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 7.6% of the land within 25 km of Piikani 147 has burned since 1986, the last in 2022, a moderate band that leaves Risk alone.
How is Piikani 147’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Piikani 147 grades C+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is radon a problem in Piikani 147?
In Health Canada’s survey, 8.9% of 112 homes tested in Piikani 147’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).