Photo: Wilson Hui from Calgary, Canada · CC BY 2.0Hazards in Westlock: wildfire low, radon over the guideline in 9.6% of tested homes
Fire seldom reaches Westlock: since 1986, 0.2% of the land within 25 km has burned (0.005% 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. Westlock grades A− for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Westlock’s hazards
For Westlock, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Westlock faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Westlock grades A− for hazard risk
For Westlock, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
Its place: #256 of 474 in Alberta and #858 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.
Wildfire is rare near Westlock: 0.2% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Westlock’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Next to the typical Canadian town (0.000% a year), Westlock’s 0.005% is in the low band.
Since 1986 the nearest fire to Westlock’s homes came within 21 km, never inside 5 km.
With 0.1% forest fuel within 5 km and 1.6% within 25 km, the land around Westlock gives a fire little to burn.
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
Westlock ranks 67th of the 478 towns in Alberta for burn rate, at 0.005% 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.
Some fire is mapped around Westlock, but not enough to leave the low band, where 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are; 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.
No flood study is listed for Westlock
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Westlock: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
No flood study on the national inventory covers Westlock; ask the municipality, which is the authority for its flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 46% of towns in Alberta have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%, and Westlock is not among them.
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 Westlock.
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 Westlock: $0.008 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Shaking costs the typical town $0.030 a year; in Westlock it is only $0.008, 0.3 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.008, Westlock 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.
Westlock is in the lower part of Canada’s range for earthquake risk; 87% 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).
What a quake does after the shaking, fire, landslides, tsunami, falls outside NRCan’s figure for Westlock.
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 Westlock: 9.6% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
9.6% of tested homes around Westlock were over the guideline, much like the typical Canadian town at 6.6%. Nobody publishes radon tests for Westlock alone, so this card uses the figure for the Aspen Regional Health Authority.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Westlock’s area, at 9.6%, is above the median in Alberta (7.5%), and 0.5% 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.
Radon tops the guideline in a modest share of homes around Westlock, 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.
A low area share in Westlock 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 Westlock
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Westlock; 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 Westlock, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Westlock
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Westlock | Low | $0.008 | 9.6% | None listed |
| Westlock County 7,556 · 9.5 km | Low | $0.009 | 9.6% | None listed |
Westlock County burns a little more than Westlock, 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 Westlock faces
Practical steps for Westlock’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?
- 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 Westlock.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Westlock’s included.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Westlock 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 Westlock.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Westlock
How big is the earthquake risk in Westlock?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Westlock’s buildings lose $0.008 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
How is Westlock’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Westlock grades A− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is Westlock at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Westlock’s low band (0.2% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2009) is short of the level that counts.
Does Westlock flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Westlock, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
Is radon a problem in Westlock?
The area’s survey found 9.6% of 219 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Westlock.
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).