Photo: Qyd · CC BY 2.5Vauxhall’s hazards at a glance: a low wildfire record and 8.9% of area homes over the radon guideline
Burn scars are few around Vauxhall, with 0.1% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.003% a year). Shaking is about as much of a worry in Vauxhall as in most places, at $0.019 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Hazard risk gives Vauxhall a grade of B; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Vauxhall’s hazards
For Vauxhall, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Vauxhall faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Vauxhall: B
Two inputs always count for Vauxhall, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
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.
Little of the land around Vauxhall has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0.1% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Vauxhall’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Low by Canadian standards: 0.003% of the land a year around Vauxhall, 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Vauxhall’s homes have had no fire within 5 km since 1986; the closest was 14 km away.
Around Vauxhall the forest is thin or far off: 0% of the land within 5 km and 0% within 25 km is forest fuel.
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
Vauxhall ranks 71st of the 479 towns in Alberta for burn rate, at 0.003% 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.
Vauxhall 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.
No flood study is listed for Vauxhall
Flood studies whose area touches Vauxhall, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
No flood study on the national inventory covers Vauxhall; ask the municipality, which is the authority for its flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Vauxhall 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.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Vauxhall floods.
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.”
Ordinary seismic risk in Vauxhall: $0.019 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.
At $0.019 per $1,000, Vauxhall’s earthquake risk is about the typical Canadian town’s ($0.030; 0.6 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in Alberta peaks in Black Diamond ($0.048); Vauxhall, at $0.019, sits above the median of $0.013.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Most of Canada’s 2,611 towns (66%) face more earthquake damage than Vauxhall.
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 Vauxhall 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).
8.9% of homes tested around Vauxhall are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Source area for radon tests: the Chinook Regional Health Authority
Vauxhall’s area, at 8.9%, is close to the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Vauxhall’s area, at 8.9%, is close to the median in Alberta (7.5%); 0.9% 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.
A middling share of high tests puts Vauxhall with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, below 26% of them.
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 Vauxhall 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 Vauxhall
Alerts for Vauxhall 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. |
Alert Ready carries evacuation orders for Vauxhall to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Vauxhall’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vauxhall | Low | $0.019 | 8.9% | None listed |
| Taber 8,009 · 18 km | Low | $0.019 | 8.9% | None listed |
Taber (low) has the heaviest fire record of Vauxhall’s neighbours, and Vauxhall (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Vauxhall faces
What to do about the hazards Vauxhall 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
- 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 Vauxhall.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Vauxhall takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Vauxhall’s included.
- 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 Vauxhall.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Vauxhall
How big is the earthquake risk in Vauxhall?
About $0.019 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Vauxhall.
Is radon a problem in Vauxhall?
Around Vauxhall, 112 survey homes were tested and 8.9% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How is Vauxhall’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Vauxhall’s Hazard risk grade is B, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is Vauxhall at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0.1% of the land around Vauxhall since 1986 (last in 2014); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
Does Vauxhall flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Vauxhall’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).