Photo: Masterhatch · CC BY-SA 4.0A flood study covers Rocky Mountain House: 1 on the national inventory, the newest from Government of Alberta
Fire seldom reaches Rocky Mountain House: since 1986, 0.1% of the land within 25 km has burned (0.003% a year). For earthquakes Rocky Mountain House is middling, $0.017 a year per $1,000 against $0.030 for the typical town. Rocky Mountain House’s survey area, 7.5% over the radon guideline, is close to the typical town’s 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Rocky Mountain House a grade of A−; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Rocky Mountain House’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Rocky Mountain House: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Rocky Mountain House faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Rocky Mountain House grades A− for hazard risk
For Rocky Mountain House, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
Its place: #253 of 474 in Alberta and #696 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 Rocky Mountain House has burned: 0.5% within 5 km, 0.1% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Rocky Mountain House’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
A burn rate of 0.003% a year keeps Rocky Mountain House in the low band (the typical Canadian town: 0.000%).
There is forest near Rocky Mountain House’s homes (39% within 5 km) and more of it further out (45% 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
Wainwright burns fastest in Alberta at 1.43% a year; Rocky Mountain House, at 0.003%, ranks 71st of 478.
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.
7.5% of Canada’s 2,610 towns burn fast enough to rank moderate or above; Rocky Mountain House stays low, with 92%.
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 Rocky Mountain House (1 study)
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Rocky Mountain House: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
One study on the inventory touches Rocky Mountain House, Government of Alberta’s from 2024, and its area can be large, so it says a map exists, not that the town floods.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rocky Mountain House Flood Study | Government of Alberta | 2024 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Its flood study sets Rocky Mountain House 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.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Rocky Mountain House’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.
Expected shaking damage in Rocky Mountain House: $0.017 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
0.6 times the typical $0.030: Rocky Mountain House’s $0.017 is ordinary.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Rocky Mountain House’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.
Most of Canada’s 2,611 towns (70%) face more earthquake damage than Rocky Mountain House.
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 Rocky Mountain House’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).
Some radon around Rocky Mountain House: 7.5% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Measured across the David Thompson Regional Health Authority: radon tests
Near the middle for radon: Rocky Mountain House’s area 7.5%, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The typical town in Alberta has 7.5% over 200 Bq/m³; Rocky Mountain House’s area has 7.5%, much the same.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Radon tops the guideline in a modest share of homes around Rocky Mountain House, a band holding 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% rank above.
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 Rocky Mountain House 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 Rocky Mountain House
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Rocky Mountain House; 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. |
In fire season, check CWFIS for danger and active fires around Rocky Mountain House, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Rocky Mountain House
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rocky Mountain House | Low | $0.017 | 7.5% | Yes |
| Clearwater County 11,856 · 14 km | Low | $0.020 | 7.5% | Yes |
Clearwater County burns a little more than Rocky Mountain House, in the same low band (low here).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Rocky Mountain House faces
Practical steps for Rocky Mountain House’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. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Rocky Mountain House’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- 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 Rocky Mountain House floods.
- 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 Rocky Mountain House sits in.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Rocky Mountain House’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Rocky Mountain House
How big is the earthquake risk in Rocky Mountain House?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Rocky Mountain House $0.017 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
How is Rocky Mountain House’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Rocky Mountain House grades A− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is radon a problem in Rocky Mountain House?
7.5% of the 107 homes Health Canada tested around Rocky Mountain House topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
Is Rocky Mountain House at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Rocky Mountain House’s band is low, with 0.1% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2022), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Does Rocky Mountain House flood?
Rocky Mountain House’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
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).