Photo: Carsell: Photographer · Public domainWainwright faces more hazards than almost every Canadian town
At 1.43% of the land burned each year (18% within 25 km since 1986), Wainwright is in the very high wildfire band. Shaking is less of a worry than in most places, at $0.005 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). In Health Canada’s survey, 5.2% of homes tested in Wainwright’s area exceeded 200 Bq/m³, close to the typical 6.6%. Wainwright grades D− for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Wainwright’s hazards
For Wainwright, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Wainwright faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Wainwright: D−
The grade weighs Wainwright’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
Its place: #2,585 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
4.6% of the land near Wainwright’s homes has burned since 1986, 18% within 25 km
Past fire around Wainwright’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Very high: the land around Wainwright burns at 1.43% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Forest fuel is scarce around Wainwright: 0% of the land within 5 km, 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
None of the 478 towns in Alberta burns faster than Wainwright (1.43% a year); Fort McMurray follows at 1.11%.
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.
Very high is the rarest band, 0.2% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, and Wainwright is in 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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Wainwright
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Wainwright: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
No flood study on the national inventory covers Wainwright; ask the municipality, which is the authority for its flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Alberta, 46% of towns against 58% nationally, and Wainwright has none.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Wainwright’s homes are at risk.
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.”
Little shaking expected in Wainwright: $0.005 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Wainwright’s $0.005 is a fraction of the typical town’s $0.030 (0.2 times as much): quiet ground by Canadian standards.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.005, Wainwright is below the typical town in Alberta ($0.013); Black Diamond is highest 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.
Wainwright is among Canada’s quietest towns for earthquakes: 96% of the 2,611 expect more damage.
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 Wainwright.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
5.2% of homes tested around Wainwright are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Around Wainwright, 5.2% of tested homes topped the guideline, near the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. Wainwright doesn’t get its own radon tests figures; the ones here come from the East Central Health.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Wainwright’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.
Wainwright 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.
Health Canada advises testing every home, Wainwright’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Wainwright
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Wainwright; 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 Wainwright come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Wainwright
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wainwright | Very high | $0.005 | 5.2% | None listed |
| Wainwright No. 61 4,576 · 4.2 km | High | $0.004 | 5.2% | None listed |
Fire is no heavier anywhere nearby than around Wainwright (very high), with Wainwright No. 61 next at high.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Wainwright faces
What to do about the hazards Wainwright faces, and what to ask before you buy.
- 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
- Wildfire counts one way. For Wainwright, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. A study’s area can be a whole watershed or province, so being on the inventory says a map exists, not that a home in Wainwright floods.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Wainwright’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Radon is a survey. The radon share comes from about 14,000 long-term home tests in 2009–2011, pooled for now by the 2007 health region Wainwright sits in.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Wainwright
How big is the earthquake risk in Wainwright?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Wainwright’s buildings lose $0.005 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is Wainwright at risk of wildfire?
Yes, by Canadian standards: Wainwright’s band is very high, with 18% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2025), so wildfire counts against its Risk grade.
How is Wainwright’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Wainwright’s Hazard risk grade is D−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is radon a problem in Wainwright?
In Health Canada’s survey, 5.2% of 97 homes tested in Wainwright’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Does Wainwright flood?
Nothing is listed for Wainwright on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
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).