Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Around Cartier, 43% of tested homes have radon above the guideline
The national fire record shows next to nothing around Cartier, 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). Shaking is less of a worry than in most places, at $0.006 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Cartier grades C+ for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Cartier’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Cartier: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Cartier faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Cartier grades C+ for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Cartier with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #174 of 185 in Manitoba and #1,819 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.
Few fires near Cartier: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Past fire around Cartier’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The yearly burn rate around Cartier is 0.000%, low beside 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Land that isn’t forest covers nearly all the ground around Cartier: forest fuel is 0% within 5 km and 0% 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
Among the 189 towns in Manitoba, Flin Flon (Part) burns fastest (1.68% a year); Cartier is with the 60 near zero.
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.
Like most of Canada’s 2,610 towns (92%), Cartier is in the low band, with a burn rate of zero to three decimals; 7.5% 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.
A flood study covers Cartier, from Manitoba Infrastructure: 1 on the inventory
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Cartier: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Manitoba Infrastructure studied flooding in an area that includes Cartier (2019); open its map to see which streets lie in a flood zone.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lower Assiniboine River | Manitoba Infrastructure | 2019 | final · not public |
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 18% of towns in Manitoba have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%; Cartier is one of them.
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 Cartier.
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.
Low seismic risk in Cartier: $0.006 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Cartier’s $0.006 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: Cartier’s $0.006 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.
Cartier is in the lower part of Canada’s range for earthquake risk; 88% of the 2,611 towns are higher.
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 model counts damage to Cartier’s buildings and their occupants from shaking only: not liquefaction, landslides, tsunami or fires after a quake.
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 Cartier: 43% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
At 43% over the guideline, the area around Cartier beats the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. For radon tests, the only official count covers all of the Central health region, Cartier included.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Cartier’s area, at 43%, is above the median in Manitoba (12%), and 7.4% of its tests passed 600 Bq/m³.
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 Cartier, 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.
Basements, soil and how a house is sealed decide its radon, so in Cartier only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Cartier
Alerts for Cartier 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. |
Evacuation orders for Cartier come from the municipality or the province, while CWFIS maps fire danger every day.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Cartier
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cartier | Low | $0.006 | 43% | Yes |
| St. François Xavier 1,607 · 17 km | Low | $0.005 | 43% | Yes |
Among its neighbours Cartier has the most fire on record (low); St. François Xavier follows (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Cartier faces
What to do about the hazards Cartier 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
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Cartier’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Cartier’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Cartier 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 Cartier.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Cartier
Does Cartier flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Cartier; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
How is Cartier’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Cartier C+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
How big is the earthquake risk in Cartier?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Cartier’s buildings lose $0.006 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is radon a problem in Cartier?
In Health Canada’s survey, 43% of 108 homes tested in Cartier’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Is Cartier at risk of wildfire?
Very little by the national record: Cartier’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
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).