Photo: Felspar13 · CC BY-SA 4.0Around Alexander, 21% of tested homes have radon above the guideline
The burn rate around Alexander is 0.23% a year (9.1% of the land within 25 km since 1986), a moderate band. Seismic risk runs low: $0.004 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Alexander grades B for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Alexander’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Alexander: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Alexander faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Alexander grades B for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Alexander with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #135 of 185 in Manitoba and #1,399 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.
Some fire around Alexander: 9.1% of the land within 25 km since 1986, 1.1% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Alexander’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
The yearly burn rate around Alexander is 0.23%, above 0.000% for the typical Canadian town but under the high band.
48% of the land within 5 km of Alexander is forest fuel, close to the 51% 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 Manitoba · highest of 189
Flin Flon (Part) burns fastest in Manitoba at 1.68% a year; Alexander, at 0.23%, ranks 7th of 189.
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.
Alexander 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.
No flood study is listed for Alexander
Flood studies whose area touches Alexander, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
NRCan’s inventory is silent on Alexander, so any flood map would be the municipality’s own.
Towns with a flood study on file
Alexander has no flood study on file; only 18% of towns in Manitoba do, against 58% across Canada.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Alexander floods.
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 Alexander: $0.004 a year per $1,000
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Alexander’s $0.004 is a fraction of the typical town’s $0.030 (0.1 times as much): quiet ground by Canadian standards.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in Manitoba peaks in Virden ($0.007); Alexander, at $0.004, is below the median of $0.006.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Nearly every one of Canada’s 2,611 towns (98%) expects more shaking damage than Alexander.
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 loss is to Alexander’s buildings alone, from ground shaking; infrastructure and secondary hazards are left out.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
21% of homes tested around Alexander are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
A higher share than most: 21% of tested homes around Alexander, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Alexander, 21% of tests were over 200 Bq/m³ and 1% over 600, against a median of 12% in Manitoba.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Few of Canada’s 2,611 towns (3.1%) share the 20–30% band with Alexander, and 1.5% sit above it.
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.
Basements, soil and how a house is sealed decide its radon, so in Alexander only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Data for radon tests covers the North Eastman health region
Weather and fire alerts for Alexander
Alerts for Alexander come from Environment and Climate Change Canada and, for emergencies, Alert Ready.
| 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. |
Fire danger and active fires near Alexander are mapped daily by the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System; evacuation orders come from the municipality or province.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Alexander
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alexander | Moderate | $0.004 | 21% | None listed |
| Powerview-Pine Falls 1,311 · 5.0 km | Moderate | $0.005 | 21% | None listed |
| Fort Alexander 3 2,300 · 11 km | Moderate | $0.004 | 21% | None listed |
Alexander’s moderate band tops its neighbours; Fort Alexander 3 is next (moderate).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Alexander faces
What to do about the hazards Alexander 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
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Alexander takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. The flood inventory points to maps; it is incomplete and not the official source, so ask the municipality about any street in Alexander.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Alexander’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Alexander’s figure is its subdivision’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Alexander
How is Alexander’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Alexander B, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Does Alexander flood?
Nothing is listed for Alexander on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
Is Alexander at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 9.1% of the land within 25 km of Alexander has burned since 1986, the last in 2025, a moderate band that leaves Risk alone.
Is radon a problem in Alexander?
In Health Canada’s survey, 21% of 100 homes tested in Alexander’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
How big is the earthquake risk in Alexander?
About $0.004 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Alexander.
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).