Photo: VirdenPioneers · CC BY-SA 4.0Around Virden, 35% of tested homes have radon above the guideline
Wildfire barely registers for Virden, at 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). Shaking is less of a worry than in most places, at $0.007 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Virden grades C+ for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Virden’s hazards
For Virden, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Virden faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Virden grades C+ for hazard risk
Earthquake risk and radon make Virden’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
Its place: #178 of 185 in Manitoba and #1,829 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.
Wildfire is rare near Virden: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Virden’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Next to the typical Canadian town (0.000% a year), Virden’s 0.000% is in the low band.
Little near Virden’s homes can carry a forest fire; only 0% of the land within 5 km is forest fuel, 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
Of the 189 towns in Manitoba, 60 have a burn rate that rounds to zero, Virden among them; Flin Flon (Part) leads at 1.68% a year.
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; Virden 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.
No flood study is listed for Virden
Flood studies whose area touches Virden, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
There is no study for Virden on the national flood inventory, which is far from complete.
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 18% of towns in Manitoba have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%, and Virden is not among them.
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 Virden 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.”
Little shaking expected in Virden: $0.007 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.
At $0.007 per $1,000, Virden carries 0.2 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030): low.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
No town in Manitoba expects more earthquake damage than Virden ($0.007); the typical one expects $0.006.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Earthquakes cost less around Virden than in 88% of Canada’s 2,611 towns.
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 Virden 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).
Test for radon in Virden: 35% of area homes were over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Radon tests for the Assiniboine health region
A higher share than most: 35% of tested homes around Virden, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Virden than in most towns in Manitoba: 35% over the guideline (12% is typical), 1.8% 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 Virden, 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.
Whatever Virden’s area share, the reading that matters is your own home’s, over a winter.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Virden
Alerts for Virden 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 Virden to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Virden’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Virden | Low | $0.007 | 35% | None listed |
| Wallace-Woodworth 2,983 · 3.1 km | Low | $0.006 | 35% | Yes |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Virden (low); Wallace-Woodworth comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Virden faces
Practical steps for Virden’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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Virden’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Wildfire counts one way. For Virden, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- 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 Virden.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Virden takes its 2007 health region’s share.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Virden
Is radon a problem in Virden?
35% of the 110 homes Health Canada tested around Virden topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How big is the earthquake risk in Virden?
Expected earthquake damage in Virden comes to $0.007 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Does Virden flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Virden (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
How is Virden’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Virden grades C+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is Virden at risk of wildfire?
The burned-area record shows next to nothing around Virden (0% within 25 km since 1986), so its band is low.
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).