Photo: Dicklyon · CC BY-SA 4.0Flood mapping exists for Ponoka County: 1 on record, latest by Government of Alberta
Around Ponoka County, wildfire is practically absent from the record: 0% within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. Earthquakes matter little: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.014 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Radon around Ponoka County is ordinary for Canada: 7.5% of tested homes over the guideline (6.6% typical). Ponoka County grades A− for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Ponoka County’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Ponoka County: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Ponoka County faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Ponoka County grades A− for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Ponoka County, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
Its place: #241 of 474 in Alberta and #660 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 Ponoka County has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Ponoka County’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Low by Canadian standards: 0.000% of the land a year around Ponoka County, 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
No fire has burned within 5 km of Ponoka County’s homes since 1986; the nearest burn is 18 km away.
The forest starts beyond town: 4.3% of the land within 5 km of Ponoka County’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
Among the 478 towns in Alberta, Wainwright burns fastest (1.43% a year); Ponoka 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.
Like most of Canada’s 2,610 towns (92%), Ponoka County is in the low band, with a burn rate of zero to three decimals; 7.5% 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.
A flood study covers Ponoka County, from Government of Alberta: 1 on the inventory
Flood studies whose area touches Ponoka County, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
The flood study touching Ponoka County is Government of Alberta’s, dated 1994; its own map shows the zones street by street.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ponoka Flood Hazard Study | Government of Alberta | 1994 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Its flood study sets Ponoka County apart in Alberta, where 46% of towns have one (Canada: 58%).
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Ponoka County’s homes are at risk.
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.
Little shaking expected in Ponoka County: $0.014 a year per $1,000
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
0.5 times the typical $0.030: Ponoka County’s $0.014 is low for Canada.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The median in Alberta is $0.013; Ponoka County, at $0.014, is right beside it, and Black Diamond tops the list 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.
Toward the quiet end of Canada’s range: 73% of its 2,611 towns sit above Ponoka 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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Ponoka County’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).
Radon about average around Ponoka County: 7.5% over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
The survey area of Ponoka County reads 7.5%, a shade from the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. Ponoka County doesn’t get its own radon tests figures; the ones here come from the David Thompson Regional Health Authority.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon around Ponoka County 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.
Ponoka County 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.
A survey sample isn’t a map: any home in Ponoka County can be high, and a three-month test is the only way to know.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Ponoka County
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Ponoka County; 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 Ponoka County, 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)
Get ready for what Ponoka County faces
What to do about the hazards Ponoka County 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 Ponoka County floods.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Ponoka County’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 Ponoka County sits in.
- 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 Ponoka County’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Ponoka County
Is Ponoka County at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Ponoka County since 1986 (last in 2025); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
Does Ponoka County flood?
Ponoka County’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
Is radon a problem in Ponoka County?
Around Ponoka County, 107 survey homes were tested and 7.5% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How big is the earthquake risk in Ponoka County?
About $0.014 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Ponoka County.
How is Ponoka County’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Ponoka County grades A− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
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).