Photo: Carsten Hanebaum · Public domainRadon is Russell’s main hazard: 35% of tested homes in its area top Health Canada’s guideline
Fire has left almost no mark near Russell: 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. Seismic risk runs low: $0.005 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Russell grades B− for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Russell’s hazards
For Russell, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Russell faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Russell grades B− for hazard risk
For Russell, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
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.
Little of the land around Russell has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Russell’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Forty years of fire maps put Russell at 0.000% a year, low next to the typical Canadian town’s 0.000%.
The closest burn since 1986 lies 21 km from Russell’s homes, none within 5 km.
Land that isn’t forest covers nearly all the ground around Russell: forest fuel is 0% within 5 km 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
Little or nothing burns around Russell in a typical year; 60 of the 189 towns in Manitoba share that, and Flin Flon (Part) leads 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 holds 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, and Russell sits at its very bottom; only 7.5% are above it.
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.
A flood study covers Russell, from Hydrologic Forecasting and Water Management Branch of Manitoba Transporation and Infrastructure : 1 on the inventory
Flood studies whose area touches Russell, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
The flood study touching Russell is Hydrologic Forecasting and Water Management Branch of Manitoba Transporation and Infrastructure ’s, dated 2025; its own map shows the zones street by street.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hydrodynamic Modelling Study for the Upper Assiniboine River: Mapped communities-St. Lazarre and Brandon | Hydrologic Forecasting and Water Management Branch of Manitoba Transporation and Infrastructure | 2025 | final · not public |
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 18% of towns in Manitoba have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%; Russell is one of them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Russell’s homes are at risk.
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.
Little shaking expected in Russell: $0.005 a year per $1,000
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Shaking costs the typical town $0.030 a year; in Russell it is only $0.005, 0.2 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Russell’s $0.005 is close to the median in Manitoba, $0.006; Virden is highest 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.
At the bottom of Canada’s range, Russell has 96% of the 2,611 towns above it.
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 Russell 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 Russell: 35% of tested homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Measured across the Assiniboine health region: radon tests
the typical Canadian town has 6.6% over the guideline; Russell’s area has 35%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
More homes top the guideline around Russell (35%) than in the typical town in Manitoba (12%); 1.8% went over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
No band is higher: Russell 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.
Health Canada advises testing every home, Russell’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Russell
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Russell; Alert Ready carries the urgent ones to phones, radio and TV.
| 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. |
For fires near Russell, the national fire information system maps danger and active fires daily; local authorities give any evacuation order.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Get ready for what Russell faces
Practical steps for Russell’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?
- 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. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Russell 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, Russell’s included.
- 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 Russell.
- 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 Russell.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Russell
Does Russell flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Russell; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Russell?
About $0.005 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Russell.
Is radon a problem in Russell?
The area’s survey found 35% of 110 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Russell.
Is Russell at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Russell’s low band (0% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 1998) is short of the level that counts.
How is Russell’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Russell 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).