Photo: Wtshymanski · CC BY-SA 3.043% of homes tested in Montcalm’s area are above the radon guideline
Since 1986 almost nothing has burned near Montcalm: 0% of the land within 25 km, or 0.000% a year. Seismic risk runs low: $0.006 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Hazard risk gives Montcalm a grade of C+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Montcalm’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Montcalm: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Montcalm faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Montcalm grades C+ for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Montcalm, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Few fires near Montcalm: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Montcalm’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Low: the land around Montcalm burns at 0.000% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
With 0% forest fuel within 5 km and 0% within 25 km, the land around Montcalm gives a fire little to burn.
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
To three decimals the burn rate around Montcalm is zero, as for 61 of the 190 towns in Manitoba, while Flin Flon (Part) reaches 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.
92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are in the low band and 7.5% above it; Montcalm is among the many where the yearly burn rate rounds to zero.
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.
Montcalm is on the flood map inventory: 2 studies, latest by Hydrologic Forecasting and Water Management Branch of Manitoba Transporation and Infrastructure
Flood studies whose area touches Montcalm, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
2 studies on the inventory touch Montcalm, the newest Hydrologic Forecasting and Water Management Branch of Manitoba Transporation and Infrastructure ’s from 2025, and their areas can be large, so they say maps exist, not that the town floods.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hydrodynamic Modelling Study for the Red River | Hydrologic Forecasting and Water Management Branch of Manitoba Transporation and Infrastructure | 2025 | final · not public |
| Rat and Roseau River 2D Hydrodynamic Modeling Study | Manitoba Infrastructure | 2022 | final · not public |
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Manitoba, 18% of towns against 58% nationally, but Montcalm has one.
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 Montcalm 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.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
Low seismic risk in Montcalm: $0.006 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.
0.2 times the typical $0.030: Montcalm’s $0.006 is low for Canada.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Neither high nor low in Manitoba: Montcalm’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.
Toward the quiet end of Canada’s range: 88% of its 2,611 towns sit above Montcalm.
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 loss is to Montcalm’s buildings alone, from ground shaking; infrastructure and secondary hazards are left out.
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 Montcalm are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Shared with the rest of the Central health region: radon tests
A higher share than most: 43% of tested homes around Montcalm, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Montcalm’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.
No band is higher: Montcalm is among the 1.5% of Canada’s towns with 30% or more of tests over 200 Bq/m³.
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.
A survey sample isn’t a map: any home in Montcalm can be high, and a three-month test is the only way to know.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Montcalm
Alerts for Montcalm 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 Montcalm 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 Montcalm
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Montcalm | Low | $0.006 | 43% | Yes |
| Morris 2,139 · 11 km | Low | $0.005 | 43% | Yes |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Montcalm (low); Morris comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Montcalm faces
What to do about the hazards Montcalm 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
- Radon is a survey. The radon share comes from about 14,000 long-term home tests in 2009–2011, pooled for now by the 2007 health region Montcalm sits in.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Montcalm’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. A study’s area can be a whole watershed or province, so being on the inventory says a map exists, not that a home in Montcalm floods.
- 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 Montcalm’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Montcalm
How is Montcalm’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Montcalm C+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is radon a problem in Montcalm?
Around Montcalm, 108 survey homes were tested and 43% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Is Montcalm at risk of wildfire?
No meaningful wildfire history near Montcalm: 0% of nearby land since 1986, band low.
Does Montcalm flood?
Montcalm’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
How big is the earthquake risk in Montcalm?
About $0.006 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Montcalm.
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).