Photo: Jd.101 · CC BY-SA 3.035% of homes tested in Killarney’s area are above the radon guideline
Wildfire isn’t Killarney’s worry: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (0.000% 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). Hazard risk gives Killarney a grade of B−, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Killarney’s hazards
For Killarney, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Killarney faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Killarney: B−
Earthquake risk and radon make Killarney’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
Its place: #153 of 185 in Manitoba and #1,609 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.
Wildfire is rare near Killarney: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Killarney’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Low: the land around Killarney burns at 0.000% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Little near Killarney’s homes can carry a forest fire; only 0% of the land within 5 km is forest fuel, 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
Near-zero burning puts Killarney with 60 of the 189 towns in Manitoba, far below Flin Flon (Part) 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.
Measured against 2,610 towns, Killarney is in the largest group, low (92%), and at its floor, while 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.
No flood study is listed for Killarney
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Killarney: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Nationally, Killarney has no listed flood study; the municipality is the place to ask.
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 18% of towns in Manitoba have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%, and Killarney 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 Killarney 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.”
Little shaking expected in Killarney: $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 Killarney it is only $0.005, 0.2 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Typical for its province: Killarney at $0.005 beside a median in Manitoba of $0.006, with Virden on top 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 Killarney.
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 Killarney 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 Killarney: 35% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Area-wide: radon tests, counted over the Assiniboine health region
A higher share than most: 35% of tested homes around Killarney, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Killarney than in most towns in Manitoba: 35% over the guideline (12% is typical), 1.8% over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Killarney is in the top band, 30% or more, with just 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.
Health Canada advises testing every home, Killarney’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Killarney
Alerts for Killarney 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 Killarney to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Get ready for what Killarney faces
Practical steps for Killarney’s hazards, most pressing first.
- 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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Killarney takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Killarney’s included.
- 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 Killarney.
- 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 Killarney.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Killarney
Does Killarney flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Killarney, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
How big is the earthquake risk in Killarney?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Killarney $0.005 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is Killarney at risk of wildfire?
Very little by the national record: Killarney’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Is radon a problem in Killarney?
The area’s survey found 35% of 110 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Killarney.
How is Killarney’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Killarney grades B− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the 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).