Photo: Glenlarson~commonswiki · Public domainOn hazards, Slave Lake comes out behind almost every Canadian town
With 0.89% of the land around it burning each year, Slave Lake sits in the high wildfire band (31% within 25 km since 1986). Shaking is less of a worry than in most places, at $0.004 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Radon around Slave Lake is ordinary for Canada: 9.6% of tested homes over the guideline (6.6% typical). Hazard risk gives Slave Lake a grade of D−; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Slave Lake’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Slave Lake: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Slave Lake faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Slave Lake: D−
Earthquake risk and radon make Slave Lake’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
Its place: #472 of 474 in Alberta and #2,580 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.
A high wildfire band for Slave Lake: 27% within 5 km, 31% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Slave Lake’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
At 0.89% of the land a year, Slave Lake’s burn rate is high, many times the typical Canadian town’s 0.000%.
The nearer ring around Slave Lake is less wooded (19% forest fuel) than the land out to 25 km (50%).
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
In the top quarter in Alberta: Slave Lake ranks 3rd of 478 at 0.89% a year, with Wainwright first 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.
Just 1.9% of Canada’s 2,610 towns burn fast enough for the high band where Slave Lake sits; 0.2% burn faster.
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.
Slave Lake is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Government of Alberta
Flood studies whose area touches Slave Lake, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
A 2024 study by Government of Alberta covers Slave Lake, and its map, not the inventory, shows the zones.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Slave Lake Flood Study | Government of Alberta | 2024 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Alberta reaches 46% of towns, Slave Lake among them, below the 58% across Canada.
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 Slave Lake’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.
Low seismic risk in Slave Lake: $0.004 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.
Shaking costs the typical town $0.030 a year; in Slave Lake it is only $0.004, 0.1 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Slave Lake’s $0.004 sits under the median in Alberta, $0.013, and well under Black Diamond’s $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 Slave Lake.
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 Slave Lake’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).
9.6% of homes tested around Slave Lake are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Slave Lake’s area sits close to the typical Canadian town: 9.6% over the guideline, against 6.6%. Slave Lake doesn’t get its own radon tests figures; the ones here come from the Aspen Regional Health Authority.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Slave Lake’s area, at 9.6%, is above the median in Alberta (7.5%), and 0.5% of its tests passed 600 Bq/m³.
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 Slave Lake, 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.
Basements, soil and how a house is sealed decide its radon, so in Slave Lake only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Slave Lake
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Slave Lake; 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 Slave Lake 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 Slave Lake’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Slave Lake | High | $0.004 | 9.6% | Yes |
| Lesser Slave River No. 124 2,980 · 11 km | High | $0.005 | 9.6% | Yes |
The neighbour with the most fire is Lesser Slave River No. 124 (high), still no more than Slave Lake (high).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Slave Lake faces
Practical steps for Slave Lake’s hazards, most pressing first.
- Clear needles and wood nearby.
- Keep a grab-and-go bag ready.
- In smoke, stay in; filter air.
- 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.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- How close is the forest edge?
- 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 Slave Lake’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 Slave Lake floods.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Slave Lake’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 Slave Lake sits in.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Slave Lake
How big is the earthquake risk in Slave Lake?
About $0.004 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Slave Lake.
Is Slave Lake at risk of wildfire?
Wildfire is Slave Lake’s main hazard, band high: 31% of the land within 25 km burned between 1986 and 2025.
Does Slave Lake flood?
Slave Lake’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
How is Slave Lake’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Slave Lake D−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is radon a problem in Slave Lake?
The area’s survey found 9.6% of 219 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Slave Lake.
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).