Photo: Jason Woodhead · CC BY 2.0Hazard risk in Provost is lower than in almost every Canadian town
For Provost, wildfire history is close to nil: 0% of nearby land since 1986, 0.000% a year. Earthquakes matter little: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.004 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. About as many homes carry radon around Provost as elsewhere, 5.2% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Provost a grade of A+; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Provost’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Provost: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Provost faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Provost: A+
For Provost, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
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.
Few fires near Provost: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Past fire around Provost’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
In a typical year 0.000% of the land near Provost burns; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%, and both are low.
Forest fuel is scarce around Provost: 0% of the land within 5 km, 0% 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 479
Fire has taken almost none of the land around Provost, as for 387 of the 479 towns in Alberta; Wainwright tops the list 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.
The low band holds 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, and Provost 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 Provost
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Provost: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Nationally, Provost has no listed flood study; the municipality is the place to ask.
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Alberta, 46% of towns against 58% nationally, and Provost has none.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Provost.
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 Provost just $0.004 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.004 per $1,000, Provost carries 0.1 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030): low.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Alberta expects $0.013 a year in shaking damage; Provost expects less, $0.004, and Black Diamond the most, $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.
Nearly every one of Canada’s 2,611 towns (98%) expects more shaking damage than Provost.
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 Provost’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).
5.2% of homes tested around Provost are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
5.2% of tested homes around Provost were over the guideline, much like the typical Canadian town at 6.6%. Provost doesn’t get its own radon tests figures; the ones here come from the East Central Health.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Provost, 5.2% of tests were over 200 Bq/m³, under the median in Alberta (7.5%); 1% were over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Between 5% and 10% of tests over the guideline: Provost, and 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% are 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 Provost 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 Provost
Alerts for Provost 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. |
Fire danger and active fires near Provost are mapped daily by the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System; evacuation orders come from the municipality or province.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Provost’s neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Provost | Low | $0.004 | 5.2% | None listed |
| Provost No. 52 2,092 · 17 km | High | $0.005 | 5.2% | None listed |
Fire is heaviest around Provost No. 52 (high), against low for Provost.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Provost faces
Practical steps for Provost’s 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
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Provost’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Provost’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Provost without grading them.
- 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 Provost until then.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Provost
Is radon a problem in Provost?
5.2% of the 97 homes Health Canada tested around Provost topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How is Provost’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Provost grades A+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Provost?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Provost $0.004 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is Provost at risk of wildfire?
The burned-area record shows next to nothing around Provost (0% within 25 km since 1986), so its band is low.
Does Provost flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Provost (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
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).