Photo: Unknown author Unknown author · Public domainStrathcona County faces fewer hazards than almost every Canadian town
Fire reaches the land around Strathcona County now and then: 2.4% within 25 km since 1986 (0.08% a year), below the high band. Seismic risk runs low: $0.009 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Fewer homes than usual carry radon here, 1.4% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Strathcona County grades A+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Strathcona County’s hazards
For Strathcona County, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Strathcona County faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Strathcona County: A+
The grade weighs Strathcona 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: #3 of 474 in Alberta and #8 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.
Some fire around Strathcona County: 2.4% of the land within 25 km since 1986, 2% within 5 km
Past fire around Strathcona County’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Moderate: the land around Strathcona County burns at 0.08% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Only 0.4% of the land within 25 km of Strathcona County is forest fuel, and 0.2% close in.
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
Strathcona County ranks 31st of the 478 towns in Alberta for burn rate, at 0.08% 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.
Only 5.4% of Canada’s 2,610 towns share the moderate band with Strathcona County, and 2.1% sit above it.
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 Strathcona County (1 study)
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Strathcona County: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The flood study touching Strathcona County is Government of Alberta’s, dated 2024; its own map shows the zones street by street.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| North Saskatchewan River Flood Study | Government of Alberta | 2024 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 46% of towns in Alberta have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%; Strathcona County 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 Strathcona County.
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 Strathcona County: $0.009 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Strathcona County’s $0.009 is a fraction of the typical town’s $0.030 (0.3 times as much): quiet ground by Canadian standards.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.009, Strathcona County is below the typical town in Alberta ($0.013); Black Diamond is highest 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.
Toward the quiet end of Canada’s range: 86% of its 2,611 towns sit above Strathcona County.
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).
For Strathcona County the model prices shaking damage to buildings, nothing more.
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 Strathcona County: 1.4% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Shared with the rest of the Capital Health: radon tests
A lower share than most: 1.4% of tested homes around Strathcona County, 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 Strathcona County 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.
Radon rarely tops the guideline around Strathcona County, as for 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 63% see more.
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.
A low area share in Strathcona County doesn’t clear a house, nor does a high one condemn it: test.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Strathcona County
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Strathcona County; 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 Strathcona County 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 Strathcona County’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strathcona County | Moderate | $0.009 | 1.4% | Yes |
| Maple 3,920 · 8.4 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Tamarack 6,860 · 9.6 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Rundle Heights 5,175 · 10.0 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | Yes |
| Larkspur 5,472 · 10 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Wild Rose 8,534 · 10 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Gold Bar 2,685 · 11 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | Yes |
Strathcona County’s moderate band tops its neighbours; Maple is next (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Strathcona County faces
What to do about the hazards Strathcona 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?
- 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. Radon figures pool the survey’s home tests by area: postal areas once their boundaries arrive, the 2007 health region around Strathcona County until then.
- 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 Strathcona County.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Strathcona County without grading them.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Strathcona County’s included.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Strathcona County
Is radon a problem in Strathcona County?
In Health Canada’s survey, 1.4% of 73 homes tested in Strathcona County’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Does Strathcona County flood?
A flood study covers Strathcona County on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
Is Strathcona County at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 2.4% of the land within 25 km of Strathcona County has burned since 1986, the last in 2025, a moderate band that leaves Risk alone.
How big is the earthquake risk in Strathcona County?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Strathcona County $0.009 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
How is Strathcona County’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Strathcona County’s Hazard risk grade is A+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
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).