Wildfire moderate, radon 9.6%: how Thorhild County stands on hazards
Some 4.1% of the land within 25 km of Thorhild County has burned since 1986; at 0.10% a year that is moderate, not high. Earthquakes matter little: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.007 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Thorhild County a grade of A−; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Thorhild County’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Thorhild County: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Thorhild 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 Thorhild County: A−
Earthquake risk and radon make Thorhild County’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
Its place: #250 of 474 in Alberta and #685 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.
Some fire around Thorhild County: 4.1% of the land within 25 km since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Thorhild County’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
At 0.10% of the land a year, Thorhild County’s burn rate is moderate; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Fire has stayed at least 5.2 km from Thorhild County’s homes since 1986.
Close to Thorhild County there is little to burn (4.1% forest fuel within 5 km), but 9.4% of the land within 25 km is forest.
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
In the top quarter in Alberta: Thorhild County ranks 25th of 478 at 0.10% a year, with Wainwright first 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.
Only 5.4% of Canada’s 2,610 towns share the moderate band with Thorhild 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.
No flood study is listed for Thorhild County
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Thorhild County: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
NRCan’s inventory is silent on Thorhild County, 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 Thorhild County.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Thorhild County’s homes stand in a flood zone.
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 Thorhild County just $0.007 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.007 per $1,000, Thorhild County carries 0.2 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030): low.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Alberta expects $0.013 a year in shaking damage; Thorhild County expects less, $0.007, and Black Diamond the most, $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: 88% of its 2,611 towns sit above Thorhild 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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Thorhild 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).
Radon about average around Thorhild County: 9.6% over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Thorhild County’s area sits close to the typical Canadian town: 9.6% over the guideline, against 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Thorhild County’s area, at 9.6%, is above the median in Alberta (7.5%), and 0.5% 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.
Between 5% and 10% of tests over the guideline: Thorhild County, and 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% are higher.
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.
Basements, soil and how a house is sealed decide its radon, so in Thorhild County only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests published for the Aspen Regional Health Authority, not by town
Weather and fire alerts for Thorhild County
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Thorhild 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 Thorhild 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)
Get ready for what Thorhild County faces
Practical steps for Thorhild County’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?
- 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, Thorhild County takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Thorhild County’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- 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 Thorhild County.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Thorhild County’s figure is its subdivision’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Thorhild County
Does Thorhild County flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Thorhild County (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
How big is the earthquake risk in Thorhild County?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Thorhild County $0.007 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
How is Thorhild County’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Thorhild County A−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is radon a problem in Thorhild County?
9.6% of the 219 homes Health Canada tested around Thorhild County topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
Is Thorhild County at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Thorhild County’s band is moderate, with 4.1% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2025), 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).