Hazard risk in Wasagamack is higher than in almost every Canadian town
With 0.77% of the land around it burning each year, Wasagamack sits in the high wildfire band (28% within 25 km since 1986). Earthquakes matter little: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.003 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. In Health Canada’s survey, 7.9% of homes tested in Wasagamack’s area exceeded 200 Bq/m³, close to the typical 6.6%. Wasagamack grades D− for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Wasagamack’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Wasagamack: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Wasagamack faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Wasagamack grades D− for hazard risk
For Wasagamack, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
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 Wasagamack: 29% within 5 km, 28% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Wasagamack’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
High: the land around Wasagamack burns at 0.77% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
The ring nearest Wasagamack is the most wooded: 83% forest fuel within 5 km against 68% 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 190
Flin Flon (Part) burns fastest in Manitoba at 1.68% a year; Wasagamack, at 0.77%, ranks 2nd of 190.
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.
Wasagamack 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.
No flood study is listed for Wasagamack
Flood studies whose area touches Wasagamack, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
There is no study for Wasagamack on the national flood inventory, which is far from complete.
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Manitoba, 18% of towns against 58% nationally, and Wasagamack has none.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Wasagamack’s homes stand in a flood zone.
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.”
Earthquakes cost buildings in Wasagamack just $0.003 per $1,000 a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
At $0.003 per $1,000, Wasagamack carries 0.1 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030): low.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Below the middle in Manitoba: Wasagamack’s $0.003 against a median of $0.006; Virden has $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, Wasagamack has 99% 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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Wasagamack’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).
Radon about average around Wasagamack: 7.9% over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Wasagamack’s area, at 7.9%, is close to the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Wasagamack’s area, at 7.9%, is below the median in Manitoba (12%), though 0.7% 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.
Radon tops the guideline in a modest share of homes around Wasagamack, a band holding 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% rank above.
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.
Basements, soil and how a house is sealed decide its radon, so in Wasagamack only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests: one figure for all of the Burntwood/Churchill health region
Weather and fire alerts for Wasagamack
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Wasagamack; 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. |
Smoke and fire warnings for Wasagamack come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Wasagamack
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wasagamack | High | $0.003 | 7.9% | None listed |
| St. Theresa Point 3,619 · 16 km | High | $0.003 | 7.9% | None listed |
Fire is no heavier anywhere nearby than around Wasagamack (high), with St. Theresa Point next at high.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Wasagamack faces
Practical steps for Wasagamack’s hazards, most pressing first.
- 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
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Wasagamack’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. NRCan’s inventory says where flood mapping exists, not where water goes; the map’s owner is the authority for Wasagamack.
- 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 Wasagamack’s.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Wasagamack is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Wasagamack
Is radon a problem in Wasagamack?
7.9% of the 152 homes Health Canada tested around Wasagamack topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How is Wasagamack’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Wasagamack D−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Does Wasagamack flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Wasagamack (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
Is Wasagamack at risk of wildfire?
It is: 28% of the land within 25 km of Wasagamack has burned since 1986, the latest in 2025, which puts it in the high band that lowers Risk.
How big is the earthquake risk in Wasagamack?
Expected earthquake damage in Wasagamack comes to $0.003 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
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).