Photo: Grant Berg · CC BY-SA 3.0Hazards in Sexsmith: wildfire low, radon over the guideline in 8.9% of tested homes
No wildfire is mapped within 25 km of Sexsmith’s homes since 1986 (0% of the land, 0.001% a year). Earthquakes matter little: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.015 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Sexsmith grades B+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Sexsmith’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Sexsmith: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Sexsmith faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Sexsmith: B+
The grade weighs Sexsmith’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
Its place: #280 of 474 in Alberta and #1,099 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.
Few fires near Sexsmith: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Sexsmith’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Around Sexsmith fire takes 0.001% of the land in a typical year, the typical Canadian town 0.000%, which is low.
The 5 km ring around Sexsmith’s homes is clear of burns since 1986, the nearest 6.5 km out.
Forest fuel rises from 0% within 5 km of Sexsmith to 5% within 25 km: the fuel lies away from homes.
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
The land around Sexsmith burns at 0.001% a year, the 79th highest rate of 478 towns in Alberta; Wainwright tops it 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 Sexsmith 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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Sexsmith
Flood studies whose area touches Sexsmith, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
No flood study on the national inventory covers Sexsmith; ask the municipality, which is the authority for its flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Alberta reaches 46% of towns, below the 58% across Canada, and not Sexsmith.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Nothing here counts toward Risk; the studies are pointers to the maps their owners keep for Sexsmith.
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.”
Low seismic risk in Sexsmith: $0.015 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.
0.5 times the typical $0.030: Sexsmith’s $0.015 is low for Canada.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Neither high nor low in Alberta: Sexsmith’s $0.015 sits by the median of $0.013, while 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.
72% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Sexsmith.
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 Sexsmith’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 Sexsmith: 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 Peace Country Health
Sexsmith’s area, at 8.9%, is close to the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Sexsmith, 8.9% of tests topped the guideline, close to the typical town 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.
26% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have more homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Sexsmith’s 5–10% band, which holds 37%.
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 Sexsmith 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 Sexsmith
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Sexsmith; 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 Sexsmith come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Sexsmith’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sexsmith | Low | $0.015 | 8.9% | None listed |
| Grande Prairie County No. 1 25,883 · 16 km | Low | $0.015 | 8.9% | Yes |
The fire record around Grande Prairie County No. 1 is a touch heavier than Sexsmith’s, but the band is the same: low (here low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Sexsmith faces
What to do about the hazards Sexsmith 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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- 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 Sexsmith floods.
- 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 Sexsmith’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Sexsmith’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 Sexsmith sits in.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Sexsmith
Does Sexsmith flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Sexsmith’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
How is Sexsmith’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Sexsmith grades B+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Sexsmith?
About $0.015 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Sexsmith.
Is Sexsmith at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Sexsmith since 1986 (last in 2025); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
Is radon a problem in Sexsmith?
Around Sexsmith, 203 survey homes were tested and 8.9% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
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).