43% of homes tested in Minitonas-Bowsman’s area are above the radon guideline
Little of the land around Minitonas-Bowsman has burned: 0.6% within 25 km since 1986, or 0.02% a year. Seismic risk runs low: $0.005 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Hazard risk gives Minitonas-Bowsman a grade of B−; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Minitonas-Bowsman’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Minitonas-Bowsman: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Minitonas-Bowsman faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Minitonas-Bowsman grades B− for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Minitonas-Bowsman 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. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Wildfire is rare near Minitonas-Bowsman: 0.6% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Minitonas-Bowsman’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Next to the typical Canadian town (0.000% a year), Minitonas-Bowsman’s 0.02% is in the low band.
No fire has burned within 5 km of Minitonas-Bowsman’s homes since 1986; the nearest burn is 10 km away.
Close to Minitonas-Bowsman there is little to burn (0% forest fuel within 5 km), but 14% of the land within 25 km is forest.
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: Minitonas-Bowsman ranks 25th of 190 at 0.02% 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.
The low band takes in 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, Minitonas-Bowsman among them, though its rate is above zero; 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 Minitonas-Bowsman
Flood studies whose area touches Minitonas-Bowsman, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
There is no study for Minitonas-Bowsman on the national flood inventory, which is far from complete.
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Manitoba reaches 18% of towns, below the 58% across Canada, and not Minitonas-Bowsman.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Minitonas-Bowsman floods.
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.”
Earthquakes cost buildings in Minitonas-Bowsman just $0.005 per $1,000 a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
0.2 times the typical $0.030: Minitonas-Bowsman’s $0.005 is low for Canada.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Shaking damage around Minitonas-Bowsman runs at $0.005 a year, near the $0.006 of the typical town in Manitoba; 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.
Minitonas-Bowsman is among Canada’s quietest towns for earthquakes: 96% of the 2,611 expect more damage.
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 Minitonas-Bowsman’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).
43% of homes tested around Minitonas-Bowsman are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Measured across the Parkland health region: radon tests
At 43% over the guideline, the area around Minitonas-Bowsman beats the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Minitonas-Bowsman than in most towns in Manitoba: 43% over the guideline (12% is typical), 12% 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 Minitonas-Bowsman, 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 Minitonas-Bowsman only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Minitonas-Bowsman
Alerts for Minitonas-Bowsman 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 Minitonas-Bowsman 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 Minitonas-Bowsman
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minitonas-Bowsman | Low | $0.005 | 43% | None listed |
| Swan River 4,048 · 16 km | Low | $0.006 | 43% | None listed |
The neighbour with the most fire is Swan River (low), still no more than Minitonas-Bowsman (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Minitonas-Bowsman faces
What to do about the hazards Minitonas-Bowsman 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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Minitonas-Bowsman’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Minitonas-Bowsman takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Shaking damage is modelled from the ground, the buildings and the odds of each quake, and published for whole subdivisions such as Minitonas-Bowsman’s.
- 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 Minitonas-Bowsman.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Minitonas-Bowsman
Does Minitonas-Bowsman flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Minitonas-Bowsman’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
How big is the earthquake risk in Minitonas-Bowsman?
Expected earthquake damage in Minitonas-Bowsman comes to $0.005 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
How is Minitonas-Bowsman’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Minitonas-Bowsman B−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is Minitonas-Bowsman at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0.6% of the land around Minitonas-Bowsman since 1986 (last in 2025); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
Is radon a problem in Minitonas-Bowsman?
Around Minitonas-Bowsman, 122 survey homes were tested and 43% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
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).