Photo: Thelma A Phillips · CC BY-SA 3.0Alberton is on Canada’s flood inventory: 2 listed, led by Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Action - Government of Prince Edward Island
No wildfire is mapped within 25 km of Alberton’s homes since 1986 (0% of the land, 0.000% a year). Seismic risk in Alberton sits near the middle: $0.034 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. In Health Canada’s survey, just 3.5% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Hazard risk gives Alberton a grade of A−, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Alberton’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Alberton: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Alberton faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Alberton: A−
For Alberton, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Little of the land around Alberton has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Alberton’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
With 0.000% burned a year, Alberton is among the many low-band places (the typical Canadian town 0.000%).
No fire has burned within 5 km of Alberton’s homes since 1986; the nearest burn is 9.0 km away.
Forest fuel covers 24% of the land close to Alberton and 41% across 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 on Prince Edward Island · highest of 13
Fire is all but absent around the 13 towns on Prince Edward Island, Alberton included.
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.
92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are in the low band and 7.5% above it; Alberton is among the many where the yearly burn rate rounds to zero.
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.
Alberton is on the flood map inventory: 2 studies, latest by Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Action - Government of Prince Edward Island
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Alberton: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Action - Government of Prince Edward Island and others have studied flooding in areas that include Alberton: 2 studies, the latest from 2024.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| PEI Pluvial Flood Mapping | Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Action - Government of Prince Edward Island | 2024 | final |
| Prince Edward Island Coastal Hazards | Province of PEI, Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Action | 2021 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are common on Prince Edward Island: 100% of towns have one, against 58% nationally, and Alberton is 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 Alberton.
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 Alberton: $0.034 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Alberton’s $0.034 is close to the typical town’s $0.030 (1.1 times as much).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Alberton has the highest shaking-damage figure on Prince Edward Island, $0.034 a year per $1,000; the median is $0.020.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Alberton’s earthquake risk lands near the centre of Canada’s range; 46% 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).
The model counts damage to Alberton’s buildings and their occupants from shaking only: not liquefaction, landslides, tsunami or fires after a quake.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Little radon around Alberton: 3.5% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · The radon tests numbers here cover the Prince Edward Island Health Region
At 3.5% over the guideline, the area around Alberton is under the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon around Alberton is ordinary for towns on Prince Edward Island: 3.5%, beside a median of 3.5%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Under 5% puts Alberton with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 63% have more high tests.
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 Alberton; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Alberton
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Alberton; 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 Alberton come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Alberton’s neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alberton | Low | $0.034 | 3.5% | Yes |
| Alberton 2,426 · 4.4 km | Low | $0.032 | 3.5% | Yes |
| Miminegash 1,166 · 12 km | Low | $0.032 | 3.5% | Yes |
| O'Leary 2,878 · 15 km | Low | $0.034 | 3.5% | Yes |
| O'Leary 1,021 · 16 km | Low | $0.039 | 3.5% | Yes |
| Tignish 2,041 · 19 km | Low | $0.031 | 3.5% | Yes |
Tignish burns a little more than Alberton, 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 Alberton faces
Practical steps for Alberton’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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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 Alberton until then.
- 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 Alberton’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Alberton’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Alberton without grading them.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Alberton
How is Alberton’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Alberton A−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is Alberton at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Alberton’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2024), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Does Alberton flood?
A flood study covers Alberton on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
How big is the earthquake risk in Alberton?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Alberton’s buildings lose $0.034 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is radon a problem in Alberton?
3.5% of the 113 homes Health Canada tested around Alberton topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
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).