Photo: Nuggets · CC BY 3.0Flood mapping exists for Yellowhead County: 1 on record, latest by Government of Alberta
Some 6.2% of the land within 25 km of Yellowhead County has burned since 1986; at 0.16% a year that is moderate, not high. Earthquakes matter little: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.015 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. In Health Canada’s survey, 9.6% of homes tested in Yellowhead County’s area exceeded 200 Bq/m³, close to the typical 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Yellowhead County a grade of B+; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Yellowhead County’s hazards
For Yellowhead County, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Yellowhead County faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Yellowhead County: B+
Two inputs always count for Yellowhead County, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
Its place: #436 of 474 in Alberta and #1,366 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.
Fire reaches the land around Yellowhead County: 9.3% within 5 km, 6.2% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Yellowhead County’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Moderate: the land around Yellowhead County burns at 0.16% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
There is forest near Yellowhead County’s homes (54% within 5 km) and more of it further out (70% 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
Yellowhead County ranks 19th of the 478 towns in Alberta for burn rate, at 0.16% 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.
Only 5.4% of Canada’s 2,610 towns share the moderate band with Yellowhead County, and 2.1% sit above 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.
A flood study covers Yellowhead County, from Government of Alberta: 1 on the inventory
Flood studies whose area touches Yellowhead County, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
One study on the inventory touches Yellowhead County, Government of Alberta’s from 2025, and its area can be large, so it says a map exists, not that the town floods.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hinton Flood Study | Government of Alberta | 2025 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Its flood study sets Yellowhead County apart in Alberta, where 46% of towns have one (Canada: 58%).
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Yellowhead County’s homes stand in a flood zone.
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.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Yellowhead County just $0.015 per $1,000 a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
0.5 times the typical $0.030: Yellowhead County’s $0.015 is low for Canada.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The median in Alberta is $0.013; Yellowhead County, at $0.015, is right beside it, and Black Diamond tops the list 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.
Yellowhead County is in the lower part of Canada’s range for earthquake risk; 72% 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 Yellowhead County.
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 Yellowhead County: 9.6% over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
At 9.6% over the guideline, the area around Yellowhead County is about level with the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Yellowhead County, 9.6% of tests were over 200 Bq/m³ and 0.5% over 600, against a median of 7.5% in Alberta.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
26% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have more homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Yellowhead County’s 5–10% band, which holds 37%.
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.
Whatever Yellowhead County’s area share, the reading that matters is your own home’s, over a winter.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests: one figure for all of the Aspen Regional Health Authority
Where to get warnings in Yellowhead County
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Yellowhead County; 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 Yellowhead County, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Get ready for what Yellowhead County faces
What to do about the hazards Yellowhead County 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
- Wildfire counts one way. For Yellowhead County, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Yellowhead County’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Radon is a survey. Radon figures pool the survey’s home tests by area: postal areas once their boundaries arrive, the 2007 health region around Yellowhead County until then.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Yellowhead County without grading them.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Yellowhead County
How is Yellowhead County’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Yellowhead County grades B+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Yellowhead County?
About $0.015 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Yellowhead County.
Does Yellowhead County flood?
A flood study covers Yellowhead County on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
Is Yellowhead County at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 6.2% of the land around Yellowhead County since 1986 (last in 2025); at moderate, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
Is radon a problem in Yellowhead County?
Around Yellowhead County, 219 survey homes were tested and 9.6% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
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).