Photo: Kiwibirdman · CC BY 3.0Willow Creek No. 26 is on Canada’s flood inventory: 1 listed, led by Government of Alberta
Some 4.1% of the land within 25 km of Willow Creek No. 26 has burned since 1986; at 0.10% a year that is moderate, not high. For earthquakes Willow Creek No. 26 is middling, $0.038 a year per $1,000 against $0.030 for the typical town. Radon is about average around Willow Creek No. 26: 8.9% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Willow Creek No. 26 a grade of C+; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Willow Creek No. 26’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Willow Creek No. 26: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Willow Creek No. 26 faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Willow Creek No. 26 grades C+ for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Willow Creek No. 26 with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #459 of 474 in Alberta and #1,773 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
A moderate wildfire record for Willow Creek No. 26: 4.1% within 25 km burned, 8% within 5 km
Past fire around Willow Creek No. 26’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Moderate: the land around Willow Creek No. 26 burns at 0.10% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Forest makes up 0% of the land within 5 km of Willow Creek No. 26 and 1.4% within 25 km, little for a forest fire to run through.
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
Wainwright burns fastest in Alberta at 1.43% a year; Willow Creek No. 26, at 0.10%, ranks 26th of 478.
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.
Willow Creek No. 26 is in the moderate band, which holds 5.4% of Canada’s 2,610 towns; 2.1% 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.
Government of Alberta has mapped flooding for Willow Creek No. 26 (1 study)
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Willow Creek No. 26: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
A 2024 study by Government of Alberta covers Willow Creek No. 26, and its map, not the inventory, shows the zones.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fort Macleod Flood Study | Government of Alberta | 2024 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Willow Creek No. 26 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.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Willow Creek No. 26’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.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
Ordinary seismic risk in Willow Creek No. 26: $0.038 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.038 per $1,000, Willow Creek No. 26’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 $0.038, Willow Creek No. 26 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.
Willow Creek No. 26 sits mid-range among Canada’s 2,611 towns: 45% expect more shaking 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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Willow Creek No. 26’s figure, nor landslides or tsunami: it is buildings and shaking.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Radon about average around Willow Creek No. 26: 8.9% over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Near the middle for radon: Willow Creek No. 26’s area 8.9%, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Willow Creek No. 26’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 Willow Creek No. 26 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.
The survey sampled homes around Willow Creek No. 26; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests: one figure for all of the Chinook Regional Health Authority
Weather and fire alerts for Willow Creek No. 26
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Willow Creek No. 26; 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 Willow Creek No. 26, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Willow Creek No. 26
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Willow Creek No. 26 | Moderate | $0.038 | 8.9% | Yes |
| Claresholm 4,242 · 10 km | Moderate | $0.046 | 8.1% | None listed |
The fire record around Claresholm is a touch heavier than Willow Creek No. 26’s, but the band is the same: moderate (here moderate).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Willow Creek No. 26 faces
What to do about the hazards Willow Creek No. 26 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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- How close is the forest edge?
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Willow Creek No. 26 is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Willow Creek No. 26’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Shaking damage is modelled from the ground, the buildings and the odds of each quake, and published for whole subdivisions such as Willow Creek No. 26’s.
- 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 Willow Creek No. 26.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Willow Creek No. 26
How is Willow Creek No. 26’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
26 C+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
How big is the earthquake risk in Willow Creek No. 26?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Willow Creek No. 26’s buildings lose $0.038 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is Willow Creek No. 26 at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 4.1% of the land around Willow Creek No. 26 since 1986 (last in 2021); at moderate, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
Is radon a problem in Willow Creek No. 26?
Around Willow Creek No. 26, 112 survey homes were tested and 8.9% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Does Willow Creek No. 26 flood?
There is flood mapping for Willow Creek No. 26 on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
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).