Photo: Rural Health Professions Action Plan from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada · CC BY 2.0Three Hills’ hazards at a glance: a low wildfire record and 7.5% of area homes over the radon guideline
Wildfire barely registers for Three Hills, at 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). Earthquakes matter little: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.012 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Three Hills grades A− for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Three Hills’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Three Hills: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Three Hills faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Three Hills: A−
Earthquake risk and radon make Three Hills’ grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
Its place: #235 of 474 in Alberta and #592 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Wildfire is rare near Three Hills: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Three Hills’ residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
The land within 25 km of Three Hills burns at 0.000% a year on average, the low band; the typical Canadian town: 0.000%.
Little near Three Hills’ homes can carry a forest fire; only 0% of the land within 5 km is forest fuel, and 0% 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
Fire has taken almost none of the land around Three Hills, as for 386 of the 478 towns in Alberta; Wainwright tops the list 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.
Measured against 2,610 towns, Three Hills is in the largest group, low (92%), and at its floor, while 7.5% rank 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 Three Hills
Flood studies whose area touches Three Hills, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
NRCan’s inventory is silent on Three Hills, so any flood map would be the municipality’s own.
Towns with a flood study on file
No study touches Three Hills; in Alberta, 46% of towns have one, below Canada’s 58%.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood mapping is shown for Three Hills to be opened and checked, never turned into a grade.
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 Three Hills just $0.012 per $1,000 a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Shaking costs the typical town $0.030 a year; in Three Hills it is only $0.012, 0.4 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Shaking damage around Three Hills runs at $0.012 a year, near the $0.013 of the typical town in Alberta; Black Diamond has $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.
Three Hills is in the lower part of Canada’s range for earthquake risk; 84% of the 2,611 towns are higher.
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 Three Hills’ 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).
Some radon around Three Hills: 7.5% of area homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Radon tests for the David Thompson Regional Health Authority
At 7.5% over the guideline, the area around Three Hills is about level with the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon around Three Hills is ordinary for towns in Alberta: 7.5%, beside a median of 7.5%.
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: Three Hills, 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.
One home in Three Hills 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).
Weather and fire alerts for Three Hills
Alerts for Three Hills 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. |
Evacuation orders for Three Hills come from the municipality or the province, while CWFIS maps fire danger every day.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Three Hills’ neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Three Hills | Low | $0.012 | 7.5% | None listed |
| Kneehill County 5,129 · 2.1 km | Low | $0.014 | 7.5% | Yes |
| Trochu 1,191 · 14 km | Low | $0.013 | 7.5% | None listed |
Fire is no heavier anywhere nearby than around Three Hills (low), with Kneehill County next at low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Three Hills faces
Practical steps for Three Hills’ 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
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Three Hills’ figure is its subdivision’s.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Three Hills 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 Three Hills until then.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Three Hills’ homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Three Hills
Is Three Hills at risk of wildfire?
No meaningful wildfire history near Three Hills: 0% of nearby land since 1986, band low.
How is Three Hills’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Three Hills A−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
How big is the earthquake risk in Three Hills?
Expected earthquake damage in Three Hills comes to $0.012 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is radon a problem in Three Hills?
The area’s survey found 7.5% of 107 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Three Hills.
Does Three Hills flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Three Hills, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
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).