Photo: Robert Linsdell from St. Andrews, Canada · CC BY 2.0A flood study covers Buchanan: 1 on the national inventory, the newest from Manitoba Infrastructure
For Buchanan, wildfire history is close to nil: 0% of nearby land since 1986, 0.000% a year. Seismic risk runs low: $0.006 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. More homes than usual carry radon here, 12% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Buchanan grades B+ for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Buchanan’s hazards
For Buchanan, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Buchanan faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Buchanan: B+
The grade weighs Buchanan’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
Its place: #10 of 185 in Manitoba and #940 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The radon share rests on 66 home tests in the survey area, so a few homes move it. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Little of the land around Buchanan has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Buchanan’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Buchanan burns at 0.000% a year, low against 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
With 0% forest fuel within 5 km and 0% within 25 km, the land around Buchanan 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
Among the 189 towns in Manitoba, Flin Flon (Part) burns fastest (1.68% a year); Buchanan is with the 60 near zero.
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.
Only 7.5% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are above the low band, which holds 92%; Buchanan, at a rounded zero, is far from them.
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 Buchanan, from Manitoba Infrastructure: 1 on the inventory
Flood studies whose area touches Buchanan, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Manitoba Infrastructure studied flooding in an area that includes Buchanan (2019); open its map to see which streets lie in a flood zone.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lower Assiniboine River | Manitoba Infrastructure | 2019 | final · not public |
Towns with a flood study on file
Its flood study sets Buchanan apart in Manitoba, where 18% of towns have one (Canada: 58%).
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Buchanan.
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.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Buchanan just $0.006 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.
0.2 times the typical $0.030: Buchanan’s $0.006 is low for Canada.
Figures for earthquake risk are published for the city of Winnipeg as a whole, not for Buchanan alone.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Neither high nor low in Manitoba: Buchanan’s $0.006 sits by the median of $0.006, while 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.
Earthquakes cost less around Buchanan 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).
For Buchanan the model prices shaking damage to buildings, nothing more.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
12% of homes tested around Buchanan are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
the typical Canadian town has 6.6% over the guideline; Buchanan’s area has 12%. Behind radon tests sits data gathered across the Winnipeg health region, with Buchanan one part of it.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The typical town in Manitoba has 12% over 200 Bq/m³; Buchanan’s area has 12%, much the same.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
4.6% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have a higher share of homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Buchanan, in the 10–20% band with 22%.
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.
A low area share in Buchanan doesn’t clear a house, nor does a high one condemn it: test.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Buchanan
Alerts for Buchanan 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 Buchanan 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 Buchanan’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buchanan | Low | $0.006 | 12% | Yes |
| Crestview 8,658 · 0.9 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| Glendale 3,586 · 2.1 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | Yes |
| Westwood 5,716 · 2.1 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| Sturgeon Creek 3,202 · 2.1 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| Heritage Park 5,817 · 2.6 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| Kirkfield 4,100 · 2.6 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
Crestview (low) has the heaviest fire record of Buchanan’s neighbours, and Buchanan (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Buchanan faces
What to do about the hazards Buchanan 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
- 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 Buchanan sits in.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Buchanan’s included.
- 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 Buchanan floods.
- 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 Buchanan.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Buchanan
How big is the earthquake risk in Buchanan?
About $0.006 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Buchanan.
How is Buchanan’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Buchanan grades B+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is Buchanan at risk of wildfire?
The burned-area record shows next to nothing around Buchanan (0% within 25 km since 1986), so its band is low.
Does Buchanan flood?
Buchanan’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
Is radon a problem in Buchanan?
Around Buchanan, 66 survey homes were tested and 12% 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).