Photo: Jasonbook99 · CC BY-SA 3.0Gillam faces more hazards than almost every Canadian town
Wildfire is a real hazard for Gillam: 29% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, 0.79% a year, in the high band. Shaking is less of a worry than in most places, at $0.003 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Radon around Gillam is ordinary for Canada: 7.9% of tested homes over the guideline (6.6% typical). Gillam grades D− for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Gillam’s hazards
For Gillam, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Gillam faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Gillam: D−
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Gillam with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
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.
0.2% of the land near Gillam’s homes has burned since 1986, 29% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Gillam’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
High: the land around Gillam burns at 0.79% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
The ring nearest Gillam is the most wooded: 78% forest fuel within 5 km against 53% 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
In the top quarter in Manitoba: Gillam ranks 2nd of 190 at 0.79% a year, with Flin Flon (Part) first at 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.
Just 1.9% of Canada’s 2,610 towns burn fast enough for the high band where Gillam sits; 0.2% burn faster.
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 Gillam
Flood studies whose area touches Gillam, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
An empty entry for Gillam on the inventory isn’t proof of safety; ask locally for flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 18% of towns in Manitoba have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%, and Gillam 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 Gillam 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 Gillam: $0.003 per $1,000 of buildings a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Gillam’s $0.003 is a fraction of the typical town’s $0.030 (0.1 times as much): quiet ground by Canadian standards.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Below the middle in Manitoba: Gillam’s $0.003 against a median of $0.006; Virden has $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 (99%) expects more shaking damage than Gillam.
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 Gillam 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).
7.9% of homes tested around Gillam are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Gillam’s area, at 7.9%, is close to the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Gillam’s area, at 7.9%, is below the median in Manitoba (12%), though 0.7% 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.
26% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have more homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Gillam’s 5–10% band, which holds 37%.
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.
Whatever Gillam’s area share, the reading that matters is your own home’s, over a winter.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Data for radon tests covers the Burntwood/Churchill health region
Where to get warnings in Gillam
Alerts for Gillam 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 Gillam 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)
Get ready for what Gillam faces
What to do about the hazards Gillam 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 Gillam’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Gillam takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Gillam, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- 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 Gillam.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Gillam
How is Gillam’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Gillam D−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
How big is the earthquake risk in Gillam?
About $0.003 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Gillam.
Does Gillam flood?
Nothing is listed for Gillam on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
Is Gillam at risk of wildfire?
Yes, by Canadian standards: Gillam’s band is high, with 29% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2025), so wildfire counts against its Risk grade.
Is radon a problem in Gillam?
In Health Canada’s survey, 7.9% of 152 homes tested in Gillam’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).