Photo: Words in the Wind · CC BY 4.0Around WestLake-Gladstone, 43% of tested homes have radon above the guideline
Little of the land around WestLake-Gladstone has burned: 0.1% within 25 km since 1986, or 0.001% 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). Hazard risk gives WestLake-Gladstone a grade of B−, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about WestLake-Gladstone’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for WestLake-Gladstone: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What WestLake-Gladstone faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
WestLake-Gladstone grades B− for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like WestLake-Gladstone with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #158 of 185 in Manitoba and #1,651 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.
Wildfire is rare near WestLake-Gladstone: 0.1% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where WestLake-Gladstone’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
A burn rate of 0.001% a year keeps WestLake-Gladstone in the low band (the typical Canadian town: 0.000%).
WestLake-Gladstone’s homes have had no fire within 5 km since 1986; the closest was 20 km away.
With 0% forest fuel within 5 km and 0% within 25 km, the land around WestLake-Gladstone gives a fire little to burn.
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
WestLake-Gladstone ranks 31st of the 189 towns in Manitoba for burn rate, at 0.001% 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.
7.5% of Canada’s 2,610 towns burn fast enough to rank moderate or above; WestLake-Gladstone stays low, with 92%.
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.
WestLake-Gladstone is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Manitoba Infrastructure
Flood studies whose area touches WestLake-Gladstone, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
For WestLake-Gladstone the inventory points to Manitoba Infrastructure’s 2020 study, whose map is the one to check.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whitemud River | Manitoba Infrastructure | 2020 | final · not public |
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Manitoba, 18% of towns against 58% nationally, but WestLake-Gladstone has one.
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 WestLake-Gladstone 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.
Little shaking expected in WestLake-Gladstone: $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.
WestLake-Gladstone’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: WestLake-Gladstone’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.
At the bottom of Canada’s range, WestLake-Gladstone 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).
The model counts damage to WestLake-Gladstone’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).
43% of homes tested around WestLake-Gladstone are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · The radon tests numbers here cover the Central health region
At 43% over the guideline, the area around WestLake-Gladstone beats the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
More homes top the guideline around WestLake-Gladstone (43%) than in the typical town in Manitoba (12%); 7.4% went 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 WestLake-Gladstone, 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.
One home in WestLake-Gladstone can be high while next door is low; a three-month test settles it.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for WestLake-Gladstone
Alerts for WestLake-Gladstone 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 WestLake-Gladstone 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)
Get ready for what WestLake-Gladstone faces
What to do about the hazards WestLake-Gladstone faces, and what to ask before you buy.
- 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
- 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 WestLake-Gladstone floods.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of WestLake-Gladstone’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- 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 WestLake-Gladstone’s.
- 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 WestLake-Gladstone sits in.
Questions about flooding and hazards in WestLake-Gladstone
Is radon a problem in WestLake-Gladstone?
In Health Canada’s survey, 43% of 108 homes tested in WestLake-Gladstone’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Is WestLake-Gladstone at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0.1% of the land within 25 km of WestLake-Gladstone has burned since 1986, the last in 1990, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
Does WestLake-Gladstone flood?
WestLake-Gladstone’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
How big is the earthquake risk in WestLake-Gladstone?
About $0.005 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for WestLake-Gladstone.
How is WestLake-Gladstone’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives WestLake-Gladstone B−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
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).