Photo: Royalbroil · CC BY-SA 4.0Turner Valley is on Canada’s flood inventory: 1 listed, led by Government of Alberta
Around Turner Valley, wildfire is practically absent from the record: 0% within 25 km since 1986, 0.001% a year. NRCan expects $0.039 of shaking damage a year per $1,000 of buildings in Turner Valley, near the typical $0.030. About as many homes carry radon around Turner Valley as elsewhere, 8.1% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Turner Valley a grade of B, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Turner Valley’s hazards
For Turner Valley, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Turner Valley faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Turner Valley: B
For Turner Valley, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
Its place: #447 of 474 in Alberta and #1,471 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Few fires near Turner Valley: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Past fire around Turner Valley’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
A burn rate of 0.001% a year keeps Turner Valley in the low band (the typical Canadian town: 0.000%).
The 5 km ring around Turner Valley’s homes is clear of burns since 1986, the nearest 17 km out.
Forest fuel rises from 2.5% within 5 km of Turner Valley to 22% within 25 km: the fuel lies away from homes.
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: Turner Valley ranks 79th of 478 at 0.001% 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.
The low band takes in 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, Turner Valley among them, though its rate is above zero; 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.
A flood study covers Turner Valley, from Government of Alberta: 1 on the inventory
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Turner Valley: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
A 2025 study by Government of Alberta covers Turner Valley, and its map, not the inventory, shows the zones.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sheep River Flood Study | Government of Alberta | 2025 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Turner Valley is one of the 46% of towns in Alberta with a flood study on file, fewer than Canada’s 58%.
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 Turner Valley.
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.
Expected shaking damage in Turner Valley: $0.039 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.039 per $1,000, Turner Valley’s earthquake risk is about the typical Canadian town’s ($0.030; 1.3 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.039, Turner Valley is above the typical town in Alberta ($0.013); Black Diamond has the most 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.
Neither high nor low for Canada: 45% of the 2,611 towns expect more damage than Turner Valley.
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).
What a quake does after the shaking, fire, landslides, tsunami, falls outside NRCan’s figure for Turner Valley.
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 Turner Valley: 8.1% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Source area for radon tests: the Calgary Health Region
8.1% of tested homes around Turner Valley were over the guideline, much like the typical Canadian town at 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Turner Valley’s area, at 8.1%, is close to the median in Alberta (7.5%).
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Radon tops the guideline in a modest share of homes around Turner Valley, a band holding 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% rank above.
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.
Health Canada advises testing every home, Turner Valley’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Turner Valley
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Turner Valley; 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. |
In fire season, check CWFIS for danger and active fires around Turner Valley, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Turner Valley’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Turner Valley | Low | $0.039 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Black Diamond 2,910 · 3.9 km | Low | $0.048 | 8.1% | Yes |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Turner Valley (low); Black Diamond comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Turner Valley faces
Practical steps for Turner Valley’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
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Turner Valley’s included.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Turner Valley is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. NRCan’s inventory says where flood mapping exists, not where water goes; the map’s owner is the authority for Turner Valley.
- 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 Turner Valley.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Turner Valley
How big is the earthquake risk in Turner Valley?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Turner Valley $0.039 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is radon a problem in Turner Valley?
8.1% of the 86 homes Health Canada tested around Turner Valley topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
Does Turner Valley flood?
There is flood mapping for Turner Valley on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
How is Turner Valley’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Turner Valley’s Hazard risk grade is B, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is Turner Valley at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Turner Valley’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2021), 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).