Photo: Jd.101 · CC BY-SA 3.0Around Selkirk, 25% of tested homes have radon above the guideline
The burn rate around Selkirk is 0.09% a year (2.4% of the land within 25 km since 1986), a moderate band. 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 Selkirk a grade of B; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Selkirk’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Selkirk: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Selkirk faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Selkirk grades B for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Selkirk with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #141 of 185 in Manitoba and #1,472 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
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.
A moderate wildfire record for Selkirk: 2.4% within 25 km burned, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Selkirk’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
The yearly burn rate around Selkirk is 0.09%, above 0.000% for the typical Canadian town but under the high band.
Fire has stayed at least 7.7 km from Selkirk’s homes since 1986.
Forest fuel is scarce around Selkirk: 0% of the land within 5 km, 2% 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
Selkirk ranks 14th of the 189 towns in Manitoba for burn rate, at 0.09% 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.
Moderate puts Selkirk above most of Canada’s 2,610 towns, yet 2.1% rank high or very high and 5.4% share its band.
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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Selkirk
Flood studies whose area touches Selkirk, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Nationally, Selkirk has no listed flood study; the municipality is the place to ask.
Towns with a flood study on file
Selkirk has no flood study on file; only 18% of towns in Manitoba do, against 58% across Canada.
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 Selkirk 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.”
Low seismic risk in Selkirk: $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.
0.2 times the typical $0.030: Selkirk’s $0.005 is low for Canada.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
About level with the typical town in Manitoba: Selkirk’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 Selkirk.
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 Selkirk’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).
Radon runs high around Selkirk: 25% of tested homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
A higher share than most: 25% of tested homes around Selkirk, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Selkirk’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.
Selkirk 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 share describes the area, not a house: in Selkirk as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Data for radon tests covers the Interlake health region
Weather and fire alerts for Selkirk
Alerts for Selkirk 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 Selkirk 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)
How Selkirk’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Selkirk | Moderate | $0.005 | 25% | None listed |
| St. Clements 12,029 · 3.7 km | Moderate | $0.005 | 25% | None listed |
| St. Andrews 12,021 · 8.1 km | Moderate | $0.005 | 25% | None listed |
| Brokenhead 5,931 · 18 km | Moderate | $0.005 | 21% | None listed |
| West St. Paul 10,796 · 19 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
Brokenhead burns a little more than Selkirk, in the same moderate band (moderate here).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Selkirk faces
What to do about the hazards Selkirk 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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- How close is the forest edge?
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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 Selkirk floods.
- 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 Selkirk sits in.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Selkirk’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Selkirk’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Selkirk
Is Selkirk at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 2.4% of the land around Selkirk since 1986 (last in 2025); at moderate, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How is Selkirk’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Selkirk’s Hazard risk grade is B, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
How big is the earthquake risk in Selkirk?
About $0.005 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Selkirk.
Does Selkirk flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Selkirk’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
Is radon a problem in Selkirk?
Around Selkirk, 121 survey homes were tested and 25% 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).