Photo: Royalbroil · CC BY-SA 4.0A flood study covers Pincher Creek: 1 on the national inventory, the newest from Government of Alberta
Burn scars are few around Pincher Creek, with 0.8% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.02% a year). Earthquake risk in Pincher Creek is ordinary: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.042 a year per $1,000 of value, close to the typical town’s $0.030. About as many homes carry radon around Pincher Creek as elsewhere, 8.9% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Pincher Creek grades C+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Pincher Creek’s hazards
For Pincher Creek, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Pincher Creek faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Pincher Creek: C+
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Pincher Creek with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #463 of 474 in Alberta and #1,845 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.
Few fires near Pincher Creek: 0.5% within 5 km, 0.8% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Pincher Creek’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
A burn rate of 0.02% a year keeps Pincher Creek in the low band (the typical Canadian town: 0.000%).
The forest starts beyond town: 0% of the land within 5 km of Pincher Creek’s homes is forest fuel, against 8.8% 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
In the top quarter in Alberta: Pincher Creek ranks 49th of 478 at 0.02% a year, with Wainwright first 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.
Low, like 92% of the country’s 2,610 towns: the land around Pincher Creek burns, but slower than in the 7.5% 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.
Pincher Creek is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Government of Alberta
Flood studies whose area touches Pincher Creek, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
A 2024 study by Government of Alberta covers Pincher Creek, and its map, not the inventory, shows the zones.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pincher Creek Flood Study | Government of Alberta | 2024 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Alberta, 46% of towns against 58% nationally, but Pincher Creek has one.
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 Pincher Creek’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.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
Ordinary seismic risk in Pincher Creek: $0.042 per $1,000 of buildings a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Nothing unusual about Pincher Creek’s ground: $0.042 against a typical $0.030, 1.4 times.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in Alberta peaks in Black Diamond ($0.048); Pincher Creek, at $0.042, 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.
Pincher Creek’s earthquake risk lands near the centre of Canada’s range; 43% of the 2,611 towns 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 Pincher Creek 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 Pincher Creek: 8.9% over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Source area for radon tests: the Chinook Regional Health Authority
The survey area of Pincher Creek reads 8.9%, a shade from the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Pincher Creek’s area, at 8.9%, is close to the median in Alberta (7.5%); 0.9% 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.
Pincher Creek is in the 5–10% band with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% have more.
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.
Neighbouring homes in Pincher Creek can differ a lot; only a long-term test tells you about yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Pincher Creek
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Pincher Creek; 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 Pincher Creek, 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 Pincher Creek
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pincher Creek | Low | $0.042 | 8.9% | Yes |
| Pincher Creek No. 9 3,176 · 13 km | Moderate | $0.039 | 8.9% | Yes |
| Piikani 147 1,529 · 17 km | Moderate | $0.044 | 8.9% | None listed |
The heaviest fire record nearby is Pincher Creek No. 9’s, moderate to Pincher Creek’s low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Pincher Creek faces
What to do about the hazards Pincher Creek 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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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 Pincher Creek floods.
- 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 Pincher Creek.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Pincher Creek’s included.
- 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 Pincher Creek sits in.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Pincher Creek
Is radon a problem in Pincher Creek?
In Health Canada’s survey, 8.9% of 112 homes tested in Pincher Creek’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
How big is the earthquake risk in Pincher Creek?
Expected earthquake damage in Pincher Creek comes to $0.042 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Does Pincher Creek flood?
Pincher Creek’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
How is Pincher Creek’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Pincher Creek’s Hazard risk grade is C+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is Pincher Creek at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0.8% of the land within 25 km of Pincher Creek has burned since 1986, the last in 2022, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
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).