Photo: Sylgja · CC BY-SA 4.0Around Arborg, 25% of tested homes have radon above the guideline
Fire seldom reaches Arborg: since 1986, 1.8% of the land within 25 km has burned (0.05% a year). Seismic risk runs low: $0.006 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Hazard risk gives Arborg a grade of B−; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Arborg’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Arborg: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Arborg faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Arborg grades B− for hazard risk
Seismic risk and radon set Arborg’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
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.
Little of the land around Arborg has burned: 0% within 5 km, 1.8% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Arborg’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
At 0.05% of the land a year, Arborg’s burn rate is in the low band; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Since 1986 the nearest fire to Arborg’s homes came within 10 km, never inside 5 km.
Forest fuel is scarce around Arborg: 0% of the land within 5 km, 2.4% 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 190
At 0.05% a year, Arborg is near the top in Manitoba: 21st of 190, behind Flin Flon (Part) (1.68%).
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.
7.5% of Canada’s 2,610 towns burn fast enough to rank moderate or above; Arborg stays low, with 92%.
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 Arborg
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Arborg: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
There is no study for Arborg on the national flood inventory, which is far from complete.
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 18% of towns in Manitoba have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%, and Arborg is not among them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood mapping is shown for Arborg to be opened and checked, never turned into a grade.
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 Arborg: $0.006 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 Arborg it is only $0.006, 0.2 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Typical for its province: Arborg at $0.006 beside a median in Manitoba of $0.006, with Virden on top at $0.007.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Most of Canada’s 2,611 towns (88%) face more earthquake damage than Arborg.
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 Arborg’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).
Radon runs high around Arborg: 25% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Source area for radon tests: the Interlake health region
A higher share than most: 25% of tested homes around Arborg, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Arborg’s area, at 25%, is above the median in Manitoba (12%).
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Arborg is in the 20–30% band, which holds only 3.1% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 1.5% are higher.
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 share describes the area, not a house: in Arborg as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Arborg
Alerts for Arborg 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. |
Alert Ready carries evacuation orders for Arborg to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Arborg
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arborg | Low | $0.006 | 25% | None listed |
| Bifrost-Riverton 3,518 · 10.0 km | Moderate | $0.005 | 25% | None listed |
Bifrost-Riverton has the most fire around it, a moderate band against Arborg’s low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Arborg faces
Practical steps for Arborg’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
- 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 Arborg.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Arborg takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- 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 Arborg’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Arborg’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Arborg
Does Arborg flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Arborg, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
Is radon a problem in Arborg?
The area’s survey found 25% of 121 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Arborg.
How is Arborg’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Arborg grades B− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is Arborg at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Arborg’s low band (1.8% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2018) is short of the level that counts.
How big is the earthquake risk in Arborg?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Arborg $0.006 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
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).