Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domainPeguis 1B faces more hazards than 99% of Canadian towns
Fire is a regular visitor: 26% of the land within 25 km of Peguis 1B has burned since 1986 (0.73% 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). Radon is higher than usual: 25% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Peguis 1B a grade of D−; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Peguis 1B’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Peguis 1B: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Peguis 1B faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Peguis 1B grades D− for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Peguis 1B, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
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.
A high wildfire band for Peguis 1B: 32% within 5 km, 26% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Peguis 1B’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
High: the land around Peguis 1B burns at 0.73% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Homes in Peguis 1B sit on open or built-up ground (0.5% forest fuel within 5 km); the wider 25 km holds 11%.
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
Peguis 1B ranks 2nd of the 190 towns in Manitoba for burn rate, at 0.73% a year; Flin Flon (Part) leads with 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.
Peguis 1B is one of the few of Canada’s 2,610 towns in the high band (1.9%); 0.2% rank very high.
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.
Peguis 1B is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Hydrologic Forecasting and Water Management Branch of Manitoba Transporation and Infrastructure
Flood studies whose area touches Peguis 1B, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Hydrologic Forecasting and Water Management Branch of Manitoba Transporation and Infrastructure holds the flood mapping that covers Peguis 1B (2025), linked below.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hydrodynamic Modelling Study for the Fisher River (Pegius First Nation, Hodgson, Fisher River Cree Nation, and Fisher Branch) | Hydrologic Forecasting and Water Management Branch of Manitoba Transporation and Infrastructure | 2025 | final · not public |
Towns with a flood study on file
Peguis 1B is one of the 18% of towns in Manitoba with a flood study on file, fewer than Canada’s 58%.
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 Peguis 1B 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 Peguis 1B: $0.005 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.
Peguis 1B’s $0.005 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
About level with the typical town in Manitoba: Peguis 1B’s $0.005 against $0.006; 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.
Nearly every one of Canada’s 2,611 towns (96%) expects more shaking damage than Peguis 1B.
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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Peguis 1B’s figure, nor landslides or tsunami: it is buildings and shaking.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
25% of homes tested around Peguis 1B are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Peguis 1B’s survey area reads 25% over the guideline, well past the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Peguis 1B’s area, at 25%, is above the median in Manitoba (12%).
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Peguis 1B is in the 20–30% band, which holds only 3.1% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 1.5% are higher.
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.
The survey sampled homes around Peguis 1B; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests published for the Interlake health region, not by town
Weather and fire alerts for Peguis 1B
Alerts for Peguis 1B 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 Peguis 1B to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Get ready for what Peguis 1B faces
What to do about the hazards Peguis 1B 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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- How close is the forest edge?
- 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; Peguis 1B’s figure is its subdivision’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 Peguis 1B.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Peguis 1B takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Peguis 1B’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Peguis 1B
Is Peguis 1B at risk of wildfire?
Yes, by Canadian standards: Peguis 1B’s band is high, with 26% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2025), so wildfire counts against its Risk grade.
How is Peguis 1B’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Peguis 1B grades D− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Does Peguis 1B flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Peguis 1B; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
Is radon a problem in Peguis 1B?
In Health Canada’s survey, 25% of 121 homes tested in Peguis 1B’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
How big is the earthquake risk in Peguis 1B?
About $0.005 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Peguis 1B.
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).