Photo: Unknown author Unknown author · Public domainHazard risk in Tofield is lower than in 93% of Canadian towns
Little of the land around Tofield has burned: 0.3% within 25 km since 1986, or 0.008% a year. Earthquakes matter little: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.008 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. About as many homes carry radon around Tofield as elsewhere, 5.2% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Tofield a grade of A; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Tofield’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Tofield: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Tofield faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Tofield grades A for hazard risk
The grade weighs Tofield’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
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 Tofield: 0.3% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Tofield’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
The yearly burn rate around Tofield is 0.008%, low beside 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
The 5 km ring around Tofield’s homes is clear of burns since 1986, the nearest 18 km out.
Only 0.2% of the land within 25 km of Tofield is forest fuel, and 0.1% 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 479
Tofield ranks 61st of the 479 towns in Alberta for burn rate, at 0.008% 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.
Tofield 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 Tofield
Flood studies whose area touches Tofield, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
NRCan’s inventory is silent on Tofield, so any flood map would be the municipality’s own.
Towns with a flood study on file
Tofield has no flood study on file; only 46% of towns in Alberta do, against 58% across Canada.
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 Tofield.
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.”
Low seismic risk in Tofield: $0.008 per $1,000 of buildings a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
0.3 times the typical $0.030: Tofield’s $0.008 is low for Canada.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Below the middle in Alberta: Tofield’s $0.008 against a median of $0.013; 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.
Earthquakes cost less around Tofield than in 87% of Canada’s 2,611 towns.
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).
The loss is to Tofield’s buildings alone, from ground shaking; infrastructure and secondary hazards are left out.
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 Tofield: 5.2% of area homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
5.2% of tested homes around Tofield were over the guideline, much like the typical Canadian town at 6.6%. Nobody publishes radon tests for Tofield alone, so this card uses the figure for the East Central Health.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Tofield’s area, at 5.2%, is below the median in Alberta (7.5%), though 1% 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.
Tofield is in the 5–10% band with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% have 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.
The survey sampled homes around Tofield; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Tofield
Alerts for Tofield 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 Tofield 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)
Hazards in the places around Tofield
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tofield | Low | $0.008 | 5.2% | None listed |
| Beaver County 6,245 · 11 km | Low | $0.007 | 5.2% | None listed |
Beaver County burns a little more than Tofield, in the same low band (low here).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Tofield faces
What to do about the hazards Tofield faces, and what to ask before you buy.
- 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
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Tofield 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 Tofield until then.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Tofield’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Tofield’s figure is its subdivision’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Tofield
How is Tofield’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Tofield’s Hazard risk grade is A, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is radon a problem in Tofield?
Around Tofield, 97 survey homes were tested and 5.2% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How big is the earthquake risk in Tofield?
Expected earthquake damage in Tofield comes to $0.008 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is Tofield at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0.3% of the land around Tofield since 1986 (last in 2022); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
Does Tofield flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Tofield’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
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).