Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 4.0High radon around Brokenhead: 21% of homes tested in the area exceed 200 Bq/m³
Fire reaches the land around Brokenhead now and then: 3.9% within 25 km since 1986 (0.15% a year), below the high band. 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. Hazard risk gives Brokenhead a grade of B; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Brokenhead’s hazards
For Brokenhead, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Brokenhead faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Brokenhead grades B for hazard risk
Earthquake risk and radon make Brokenhead’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
Its place: #138 of 185 in Manitoba and #1,452 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Some fire around Brokenhead: 3.9% of the land within 25 km since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Brokenhead’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Moderate: the land around Brokenhead burns at 0.15% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Forest fuel rises from 4.1% within 5 km of Brokenhead to 17% within 25 km: the fuel lies away from 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
At 0.15% a year, Brokenhead is near the top in Manitoba: 11th of 189, 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.
Moderate puts Brokenhead above most of Canada’s 2,610 towns, yet 2.1% rank high or very high and 5.4% share its band.
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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Brokenhead
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Brokenhead: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The inventory has nothing for Brokenhead, but a local or conservation-authority map may still exist.
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 18% of towns in Manitoba have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%, and Brokenhead is not 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 Brokenhead.
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 Brokenhead: $0.005 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Shaking costs the typical town $0.030 a year; in Brokenhead it is only $0.005, 0.2 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Brokenhead’s $0.005 is close to the median in Manitoba, $0.006; Virden is highest 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.
Nearly every one of Canada’s 2,611 towns (96%) expects more shaking damage than Brokenhead.
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 Brokenhead 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 Brokenhead: 21% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Brokenhead’s area, at 21%, is above the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town, so testing is worth more here than most places. Brokenhead doesn’t get its own radon tests figures; the ones here come from the North Eastman health region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Brokenhead than in most towns in Manitoba: 21% over the guideline (12% is typical), 1% over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Brokenhead 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.
Neighbouring homes in Brokenhead 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 Brokenhead
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Brokenhead; 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. |
In fire season, check CWFIS for danger and active fires around Brokenhead, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Brokenhead’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brokenhead | Moderate | $0.005 | 21% | None listed |
| Beausejour 3,565 · 10 km | Low | $0.005 | 21% | None listed |
| St. Clements 12,029 · 16 km | Moderate | $0.005 | 25% | None listed |
| Selkirk 11,570 · 18 km | Moderate | $0.005 | 25% | None listed |
Nowhere around Brokenhead burns more: Selkirk, the closest rival, is moderate to its moderate.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Brokenhead faces
Practical steps for Brokenhead’s hazards, most pressing first.
- 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
- Wildfire counts one way. Burned land within 25 km of where people live, averaged over 1986–2025 and checked for fuel near homes, is the measure; it looks back, not ahead, and only ever counts against Brokenhead.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Brokenhead without grading them.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Brokenhead’s included.
- 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 Brokenhead until then.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Brokenhead
Is radon a problem in Brokenhead?
The area’s survey found 21% of 100 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Brokenhead.
How big is the earthquake risk in Brokenhead?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Brokenhead $0.005 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is Brokenhead at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Brokenhead’s moderate band (3.9% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2025) is short of the level that counts.
How is Brokenhead’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Brokenhead B, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Does Brokenhead flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Brokenhead, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
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).