A flood study covers Smoky River No. 130: 1 on the national inventory, the newest from Government of Alberta
Wildfire is a moderate presence around Smoky River No. 130: 4.7% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, 0.12% a year, short of the band that counts against Risk. Seismic risk in Smoky River No. 130 sits near the middle: $0.016 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Smoky River No. 130’s survey area, 8.9% over the radon guideline, is close to the typical town’s 6.6%. Smoky River No. 130 grades B+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Smoky River No. 130’s hazards
For Smoky River No. 130, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Smoky River No. 130 faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Smoky River No. 130: B+
Seismic risk and radon set Smoky River No. 130’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Some fire around Smoky River No. 130: 4.7% of the land within 25 km since 1986, 0.9% within 5 km
Past fire around Smoky River No. 130’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
At 0.12% of the land a year, Smoky River No. 130’s burn rate is moderate; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Forest fuel rises from 2.2% within 5 km of Smoky River No. 130 to 9% 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 479
Smoky River No. 130 ranks 23rd of the 479 towns in Alberta for burn rate, at 0.12% a year; Wainwright leads with 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.
Moderate puts Smoky River No. 130 above most of Canada’s 2,610 towns, yet 2.1% rank high or very high and 5.4% share its band.
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 Smoky River No. 130 (1 study)
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Smoky River No. 130: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
One study on the inventory touches Smoky River No. 130, Government of Alberta’s from 1996, and its area can be large, so it says a map exists, not that the town floods.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Watino Flood Hazard Study | Government of Alberta | 1996 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 46% of towns in Alberta have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%; Smoky River No. 130 is one of them.
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 Smoky River No. 130.
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 Smoky River No. 130 $0.016 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Nothing unusual about Smoky River No. 130’s ground: $0.016 against a typical $0.030, 0.5 times.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Typical for its province: Smoky River No. 130 at $0.016 beside a median in Alberta of $0.013, with Black Diamond on top at $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.
71% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Smoky River No. 130.
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).
What a quake does after the shaking, fire, landslides, tsunami, falls outside NRCan’s figure for Smoky River No. 130.
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 Smoky River No. 130: 8.9% over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Radon tests for the Peace Country Health
Smoky River No. 130’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
Smoky River No. 130’s area, at 8.9%, is close to the median in Alberta (7.5%); 1% 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 Smoky River No. 130, 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.
Whatever Smoky River No. 130’s area share, the reading that matters is your own home’s, over a winter.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Smoky River No. 130
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Smoky River No. 130; 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 Smoky River No. 130 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 Smoky River No. 130
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smoky River No. 130 | Moderate | $0.016 | 8.9% | Yes |
| Falher 1,084 · 7.6 km | Moderate | $0.016 | 8.9% | None listed |
Falher (moderate) has the heaviest fire record of Smoky River No. 130’s neighbours, and Smoky River No. 130 (moderate) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Smoky River No. 130 faces
Practical steps for Smoky River No. 130’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
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Smoky River No. 130 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 River No. 130.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Smoky River No. 130’s included.
- Wildfire counts one way. Burned land within 25 km of where people live, averaged over 1986–2025 and checked for fuel near homes, is the measure; it looks back, not ahead, and only ever counts against Smoky River No. 130.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Smoky River No. 130
How is Smoky River No. 130’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Smoky River No. 130 B+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Does Smoky River No. 130 flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Smoky River No. 130; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
Is Smoky River No. 130 at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Smoky River No. 130’s moderate band (4.7% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2025) is short of the level that counts.
How big is the earthquake risk in Smoky River No. 130?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Smoky River No. 130’s buildings lose $0.016 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is radon a problem in Smoky River No. 130?
The area’s survey found 8.9% of 203 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Smoky River No. 130.
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).