Photo: MBBrdn · CC044% of homes tested in Brandon’s area are above the radon guideline
Burn scars are few around Brandon, with 0.2% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.005% a year). Shaking is less of a worry than in most places, at $0.005 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Brandon grades B− for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Brandon’s hazards
For Brandon, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Brandon faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Brandon grades B− for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Brandon, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
Its place: #170 of 185 in Manitoba and #1,713 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Only 79 homes were tested in the survey area, so the radon share is rough. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Wildfire is rare near Brandon: 0.2% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Brandon’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The land within 25 km of Brandon burns at 0.005% a year on average, the low band; the typical Canadian town: 0.000%.
Since 1986 the nearest fire to Brandon’s homes came within 15 km, never inside 5 km.
With 0% forest fuel within 5 km and 0% within 25 km, the land around Brandon gives a fire little to burn.
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; Brandon, at 0.005%, ranks 26th 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.
Low, like 92% of the country’s 2,610 towns: the land around Brandon burns, but slower than in the 7.5% 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 Brandon, from Hydrologic Forecasting and Water Management Branch of Manitoba Transporation and Infrastructure : 1 on the inventory
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Brandon: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
For Brandon the inventory points to Hydrologic Forecasting and Water Management Branch of Manitoba Transporation and Infrastructure ’s 2025 study, whose map is the one to check.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hydrodynamic Modelling Study for the Upper Assiniboine River: Mapped communities-St. Lazarre and Brandon | Hydrologic Forecasting and Water Management Branch of Manitoba Transporation and Infrastructure | 2025 | final · not public |
Towns with a flood study on file
Brandon is one of the 18% of towns in Manitoba with a flood study on file, fewer than Canada’s 58%.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Brandon.
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.
Little shaking expected in Brandon: $0.005 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Brandon’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
Neither high nor low in Manitoba: Brandon’s $0.005 sits by the median of $0.006, while Virden reaches $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.
Nearly every one of Canada’s 2,611 towns (96%) expects more shaking damage than Brandon.
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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in Brandon is counted; landslides, liquefaction, tsunami and fire after a quake aren’t.
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 Brandon: 44% of tested 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 Brandon health region
Brandon’s survey area reads 44% over the guideline, well past the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
More homes top the guideline around Brandon (44%) than in the typical town in Manitoba (12%); 3.8% went over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
At least three tests in ten top the guideline around Brandon, a level reached by 1.5% of Canada’s towns.
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.
Neighbouring homes in Brandon can differ a lot; only a long-term test tells you about yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Brandon
Alerts for Brandon 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 Brandon 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 Brandon
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brandon | Low | $0.005 | 44% | Yes |
| Whitehead 1,824 · 15 km | Low | $0.006 | 44% | Yes |
| Elton 1,437 · 15 km | Low | $0.006 | 44% | None listed |
| Cornwallis 4,705 · 18 km | Moderate | $0.005 | 44% | Yes |
The heaviest fire record nearby is Cornwallis’s, moderate to Brandon’s low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Brandon faces
What to do about the hazards Brandon faces, and what to ask before you buy.
- 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
- 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 Brandon.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Brandon is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Brandon, 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 Brandon’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
Questions about flooding and hazards in Brandon
How is Brandon’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Brandon B−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is Brandon at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0.2% of the land within 25 km of Brandon has burned since 1986, the last in 2023, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
How big is the earthquake risk in Brandon?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Brandon’s buildings lose $0.005 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Does Brandon flood?
There is flood mapping for Brandon on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
Is radon a problem in Brandon?
In Health Canada’s survey, 44% of 79 homes tested in Brandon’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
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).