Photo: Waynercook · Public domainFlood mapping exists for Red Deer: 1 on record, latest by Government of Alberta
Wildfire isn’t Red Deer’s worry: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (0.000% a year). Seismic risk in Red Deer sits near the middle: $0.017 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Radon is about average around Red Deer: 7.5% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Red Deer grades A− for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Red Deer’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Red Deer: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Red Deer faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Red Deer: A−
Earthquake risk and radon make Red Deer’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
Its place: #253 of 474 in Alberta and #696 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Little of the land around Red Deer has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Red Deer’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Fire claims 0.000% of the land around Red Deer each year, a low band, with the typical Canadian town at 0.000%.
With 1.7% forest fuel within 5 km and 0.6% within 25 km, the land around Red Deer gives a fire little to burn.
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); Red Deer 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.
Only 7.5% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are above the low band, which holds 92%; Red Deer, at a rounded zero, is far from them.
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.
Government of Alberta has mapped flooding for Red Deer (1 study)
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Red Deer: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The flood study touching Red Deer is Government of Alberta’s, dated 2025; its own map shows the zones street by street.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red Deer River Flood Study | Government of Alberta | 2025 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Red Deer is one of the 46% of towns in Alberta with a flood study on file, fewer than Canada’s 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 Red Deer’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.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Red Deer $0.017 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Nothing unusual about Red Deer’s ground: $0.017 against a typical $0.030, 0.6 times.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Red Deer’s $0.017 tops the median in Alberta, $0.013, though Black Diamond reaches $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.
70% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Red Deer.
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 Red Deer’s 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).
7.5% of homes tested around Red Deer are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · The radon tests numbers here cover the David Thompson Regional Health Authority
The survey area of Red Deer reads 7.5%, a shade from the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Red Deer, 7.5% of tests topped the guideline, about the same as the typical town in Alberta (7.5%).
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: Red Deer, 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.
A survey sample isn’t a map: any home in Red Deer 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 Red Deer
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Red Deer; 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 Red Deer 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 Red Deer
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Red Deer | Low | $0.017 | 7.5% | Yes |
| Red Deer County 22,076 · 12 km | Low | $0.015 | 7.5% | Yes |
| Blackfalds 12,258 · 13 km | Low | $0.018 | 7.5% | Yes |
| Penhold 3,812 · 16 km | Low | $0.023 | 7.5% | Yes |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Red Deer (low); Red Deer County comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Red Deer faces
Practical steps for Red Deer’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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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 Red Deer’s.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. The flood inventory points to maps; it is incomplete and not the official source, so ask the municipality about any street in Red Deer.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Red Deer takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Red Deer’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Red Deer
Is radon a problem in Red Deer?
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 Red Deer.
How is Red Deer’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Red Deer grades A− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is Red Deer at risk of wildfire?
The burned-area record shows next to nothing around Red Deer (0% within 25 km since 1986), so its band is low.
Does Red Deer flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Red Deer; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Red Deer?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Red Deer $0.017 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
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).