Photo: Words in the Wind · CC BY-SA 4.0High radon around Bifrost-Riverton: 25% of homes tested in the area exceed 200 Bq/m³
Some 2.2% of the land within 25 km of Bifrost-Riverton has burned since 1986; at 0.06% a year that is moderate, not high. Earthquakes matter little: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.005 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Bifrost-Riverton grades B for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Bifrost-Riverton’s hazards
For Bifrost-Riverton, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Bifrost-Riverton faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Bifrost-Riverton grades B for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Bifrost-Riverton with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #141 of 185 in Manitoba and #1,472 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
A moderate wildfire record for Bifrost-Riverton: 2.2% within 25 km burned, 0.2% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Bifrost-Riverton’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Moderate: the land around Bifrost-Riverton burns at 0.06% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
11% of the land within 25 km of Bifrost-Riverton is forest fuel, yet only 4.8% within 5 km of its homes.
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
Bifrost-Riverton ranks 19th of the 189 towns in Manitoba for burn rate, at 0.06% a year; Flin Flon (Part) leads with 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.
Only 5.4% of Canada’s 2,610 towns share the moderate band with Bifrost-Riverton, 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.
No flood study is listed for Bifrost-Riverton
Flood studies whose area touches Bifrost-Riverton, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
No flood study on the national inventory covers Bifrost-Riverton; ask the municipality, which is the authority for its flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Bifrost-Riverton 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.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Bifrost-Riverton’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.”
Earthquakes cost buildings in Bifrost-Riverton just $0.005 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.
Bifrost-Riverton’s $0.005 is a fraction of the typical town’s $0.030 (0.2 times as much): quiet ground by Canadian standards.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The median in Manitoba is $0.006; Bifrost-Riverton, at $0.005, is right beside it, and Virden tops the list 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.
Bifrost-Riverton is among Canada’s quietest towns for earthquakes: 96% of the 2,611 expect more 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).
What a quake does after the shaking, fire, landslides, tsunami, falls outside NRCan’s figure for Bifrost-Riverton.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
25% of homes tested around Bifrost-Riverton are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Area-wide: radon tests, counted over the Interlake health region
Bifrost-Riverton’s survey area reads 25% over the guideline, well past the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The median in Manitoba is 12% over 200 Bq/m³; the survey area around Bifrost-Riverton has 25%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Bifrost-Riverton 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.
Radon varies from house to house in Bifrost-Riverton, so the survey is a reason to test, not a result for yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Bifrost-Riverton
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Bifrost-Riverton; 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 Bifrost-Riverton come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Bifrost-Riverton
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bifrost-Riverton | Moderate | $0.005 | 25% | None listed |
| Arborg 1,455 · 10.0 km | Low | $0.006 | 25% | None listed |
Fire is no heavier anywhere nearby than around Bifrost-Riverton (moderate), with Arborg next at low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Bifrost-Riverton faces
What to do about the hazards Bifrost-Riverton 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
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Bifrost-Riverton’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Bifrost-Riverton is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- 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 Bifrost-Riverton.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Bifrost-Riverton, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Bifrost-Riverton
Does Bifrost-Riverton flood?
Nothing is listed for Bifrost-Riverton on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
How big is the earthquake risk in Bifrost-Riverton?
About $0.005 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Bifrost-Riverton.
Is radon a problem in Bifrost-Riverton?
In Health Canada’s survey, 25% of 121 homes tested in Bifrost-Riverton’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Is Bifrost-Riverton at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 2.2% of the land within 25 km of Bifrost-Riverton has burned since 1986, the last in 2019, a moderate band that leaves Risk alone.
How is Bifrost-Riverton’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Bifrost-Riverton’s Hazard risk grade is B, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
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).