Photo: WinterE229 WinterforceMedia · CC0Hazard risk in St. Albert is lower than in 98% of Canadian towns
Since 1986 almost nothing has burned near St. Albert: 0% of the land within 25 km, or 0.000% a year. Earthquakes matter little: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.011 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Fewer homes than usual carry radon here, 1.4% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. St. Albert grades A+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about St. Albert’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for St. Albert: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What St. Albert faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
St. Albert grades A+ for hazard risk
Seismic risk and radon set St. Albert’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
Its place: #8 of 474 in Alberta and #18 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. The radon share rests on 73 home tests in the survey area, so a few homes move it. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Little of the land around St. Albert has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around St. Albert’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
At 0.000% of the land a year, St. Albert’s burn rate is in the low band; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Little near St. Albert’s homes can carry a forest fire; only 0.2% of the land within 5 km is forest fuel, and 0.5% 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
Little or nothing burns around St. Albert in a typical year; 386 of the 478 towns in Alberta share that, and Wainwright leads 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.
92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are in the low band and 7.5% above it; St. Albert is among the many where the yearly burn rate rounds to zero.
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 St. Albert (1 study)
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for St. Albert: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The flood study touching St. Albert is Government of Alberta’s, dated 2024; its own map shows the zones street by street.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| St. Albert Flood Study | Government of Alberta | 2024 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Alberta reaches 46% of towns, St. Albert 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.
Nothing here counts toward Risk; the studies are pointers to the maps their owners keep for St. Albert.
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 St. Albert just $0.011 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Shaking costs the typical town $0.030 a year; in St. Albert it is only $0.011, 0.4 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk around St. Albert ($0.011) matches the middle in Alberta ($0.013), far from 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.
Most of Canada’s 2,611 towns (85%) face more earthquake damage than St. Albert.
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 St. Albert’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 runs low around St. Albert: 1.4% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
At 1.4% over the guideline, the area around St. Albert is under the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Fewer homes top the guideline around St. Albert (1.4%) than in the typical town in Alberta (7.5%).
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Under 5% puts St. Albert with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 63% have more high tests.
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 St. Albert 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). · Radon tests published for the Capital Health, not by town
Weather and fire alerts for St. Albert
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for St. Albert; 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 St. Albert 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 St. Albert
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Albert | Low | $0.011 | 1.4% | Yes |
| Albany 3,015 · 4.7 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Carlton 5,502 · 4.9 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Oxford 4,460 · 5.6 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Cumberland 6,493 · 5.8 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Rapperswill 3,639 · 6.1 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Hudson 3,634 · 6.4 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
Fire is no heavier anywhere nearby than around St. Albert (low), with Albany next at low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what St. Albert faces
Practical steps for St. Albert’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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around St. Albert’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, St. Albert 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 St. Albert.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; St. Albert’s figure is its subdivision’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in St. Albert
How is St. Albert’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
St. Albert’s Hazard risk grade is A+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
How big is the earthquake risk in St. Albert?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in St. Albert $0.011 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is radon a problem in St. Albert?
The area’s survey found 1.4% of 73 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in St. Albert.
Does St. Albert flood?
The inventory lists a study touching St. Albert; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
Is St. Albert at risk of wildfire?
No meaningful wildfire history near St. Albert: 0% of nearby land since 1986, band low.
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).