Photo: Kevlar67 · Public domainSmoky Lake County’s hazards at a glance: a moderate wildfire record and 9.6% of area homes over the radon guideline
Fire reaches the land around Smoky Lake County now and then: 4.3% within 25 km since 1986 (0.11% a year), below the high band. Earthquakes matter little: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.005 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Smoky Lake County grades A− for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Smoky Lake County’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Smoky Lake County: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Smoky Lake County faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Smoky Lake County grades A− for hazard risk
The grade weighs Smoky Lake County’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: #232 of 474 in Alberta and #588 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.
A moderate wildfire record for Smoky Lake County: 4.3% within 25 km burned, 6.2% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Smoky Lake County’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Moderate: the land around Smoky Lake County burns at 0.11% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Near or far, forest fuel covers a similar share around Smoky Lake County: 5.9% within 5 km and 7.7% 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
At 0.11% a year, Smoky Lake County is near the top in Alberta: 24th of 478, behind Wainwright (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.
Smoky Lake County is in the moderate band, which holds 5.4% of Canada’s 2,610 towns; 2.1% rank higher.
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.
No flood study is listed for Smoky Lake County
Flood studies whose area touches Smoky Lake County, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
There is no study for Smoky Lake County on the national flood inventory, which is far from complete.
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 46% of towns in Alberta have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%, and Smoky Lake County is not among them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood mapping is shown for Smoky Lake County to be opened and checked, never turned into a grade.
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 Smoky Lake County just $0.005 per $1,000 a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
0.2 times the typical $0.030: Smoky Lake County’s $0.005 is low for Canada.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Smoky Lake County’s $0.005 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.
At the bottom of Canada’s range, Smoky Lake County has 96% of the 2,611 towns above it.
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 Smoky Lake County’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 Smoky Lake County are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Measured across the Aspen Regional Health Authority: radon tests
At 9.6% over the guideline, the area around Smoky Lake County is about level with the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Smoky Lake County, 9.6% of tests were over 200 Bq/m³ and 0.5% over 600, against a median of 7.5% in Alberta.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
A middling share of high tests puts Smoky Lake County with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, below 26% of them.
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 Smoky Lake County 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 Smoky Lake County
Alerts for Smoky Lake County 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. |
Alert Ready carries evacuation orders for Smoky Lake County to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Get ready for what Smoky Lake County faces
What to do about the hazards Smoky Lake County faces, and what to ask before you buy.
- 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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- How close is the forest edge?
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Smoky Lake County takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- 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 Smoky Lake County.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Smoky Lake County’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Smoky Lake County’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Smoky Lake County
How big is the earthquake risk in Smoky Lake County?
Expected earthquake damage in Smoky Lake County comes to $0.005 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is Smoky Lake County at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 4.3% of the land around Smoky Lake County since 1986 (last in 2025); at moderate, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How is Smoky Lake County’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Smoky Lake County’s Hazard risk grade is A−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Does Smoky Lake County flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Smoky Lake County’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
Is radon a problem in Smoky Lake County?
Around Smoky Lake County, 219 survey homes were tested and 9.6% 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).