Photo: Tara Zieminek · Public domainHazard risk in Spruce Grove is lower than in 97% of Canadian towns
Burn scars are few around Spruce Grove, with 0.2% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.004% 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. In Health Canada’s survey, just 1.4% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Hazard risk gives Spruce Grove a grade of A+; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Spruce Grove’s hazards
For Spruce Grove, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Spruce Grove faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Spruce Grove: A+
Seismic risk and radon set Spruce Grove’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
Its place: #209 of 474 in Alberta and #231 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The radon share rests on 73 home tests in the survey area, so a few homes move it. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Few fires near Spruce Grove: 0% within 5 km, 0.2% within 25 km
Past fire around Spruce Grove’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Fire claims 0.004% of the land around Spruce Grove each year, a low band, with the typical Canadian town at 0.000%.
No fire has burned within 5 km of Spruce Grove’s homes since 1986; the nearest burn is 20 km away.
Forest fuel is scarce around Spruce Grove: 2.7% of the land within 5 km, 1.2% 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 0.004% a year, Spruce Grove is near the top in Alberta: 69th 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.
Spruce Grove is in the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns; 7.5% sit in moderate or 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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Spruce Grove
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Spruce Grove: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
NRCan’s inventory is silent on Spruce Grove, so any flood map would be the municipality’s own.
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Alberta reaches 46% of towns, below the 58% across Canada, and not Spruce Grove.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Spruce Grove.
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.”
Little shaking expected in Spruce Grove: $0.015 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.015 per $1,000, Spruce Grove carries 0.5 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030): low.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Typical for its province: Spruce Grove at $0.015 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.
72% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Spruce Grove.
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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in Spruce Grove is counted; landslides, liquefaction, tsunami and fire after a quake aren’t.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Little radon around Spruce Grove: 1.4% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Radon tests for the Capital Health
A lower share than most: 1.4% of tested homes around Spruce Grove, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Against the typical town in Alberta (7.5%), the area around Spruce Grove has fewer high tests: 1.4%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Few tests over the guideline: Spruce Grove shares the bottom band with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, below the other 63%.
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.
Health Canada advises testing every home, Spruce Grove’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Spruce Grove
Alerts for Spruce Grove 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 Spruce Grove to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Spruce Grove’s neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spruce Grove | Low | $0.015 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Stony Plain 19,662 · 6.7 km | Low | $0.016 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Parkland County 34,286 · 13 km | Low | $0.014 | 1.4% | Yes |
| Enoch Cree Nation 1,947 · 14 km | Low | $0.016 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Secord 8,205 · 14 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Rosenthal 4,873 · 14 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Suder Greens 2,928 · 15 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
The fire record around Parkland County is a touch heavier than Spruce Grove’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 Spruce Grove faces
Practical steps for Spruce Grove’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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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 Spruce Grove.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Spruce Grove’s included.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Spruce Grove without grading them.
- Radon is a survey. Radon figures pool the survey’s home tests by area: postal areas once their boundaries arrive, the 2007 health region around Spruce Grove until then.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Spruce Grove
How big is the earthquake risk in Spruce Grove?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Spruce Grove $0.015 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
How is Spruce Grove’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Spruce Grove’s Hazard risk grade is A+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is radon a problem in Spruce Grove?
1.4% of the 73 homes Health Canada tested around Spruce Grove topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
Does Spruce Grove flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Spruce Grove (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
Is Spruce Grove at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Spruce Grove’s band is low, with 0.2% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2023), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
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).