Photo: Peter Broster · CC BY-SA 4.0McMillan’s hazards at a glance: a low wildfire record and 12% of area homes over the radon guideline
For McMillan, wildfire history is close to nil: 0% of nearby land since 1986, 0.001% a year. Shaking is less of a worry than in most places, at $0.006 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). McMillan grades B+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about McMillan’s hazards
For McMillan, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What McMillan faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
McMillan grades B+ for hazard risk
Earthquake risk and radon make McMillan’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
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.
Wildfire is rare near McMillan: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around McMillan’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Next to the typical Canadian town (0.000% a year), McMillan’s 0.001% is in the low band.
Nothing inside 5 km of McMillan’s homes has burned since 1986, and the nearest scar is 23 km off.
Only 0% of the land within 25 km of McMillan is forest fuel, and 0% close in.
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
McMillan 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.
The low band takes in 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, McMillan among them, though its rate is above zero; 7.5% rank higher.
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 McMillan
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for McMillan: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
There is no study for McMillan 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 McMillan 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 McMillan 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.”
Earthquakes cost buildings in McMillan just $0.006 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.006 per $1,000, McMillan carries 0.2 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030): low.
McMillan doesn’t get its own earthquake risk figures; the ones here come from the city of Winnipeg.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Typical for its province: McMillan at $0.006 beside a median in Manitoba of $0.006, with Virden on top at $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.
88% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than McMillan.
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).
What a quake does after the shaking, fire, landslides, tsunami, falls outside NRCan’s figure for McMillan.
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 McMillan are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
More homes than usual test high around McMillan: 12% against 6.6% for the typical Canadian town. Nobody publishes radon tests for McMillan alone, so this card uses the figure for the Winnipeg health region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
McMillan’s area, at 12%, is close to the median in Manitoba (12%).
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 McMillan, 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.
Health Canada advises testing every home, McMillan’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in McMillan
Alerts for McMillan 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 McMillan to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How McMillan’s neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| McMillan | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| Roslyn 4,411 · 0.5 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| Earl Grey 5,152 · 0.6 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| Crescentwood 3,060 · 1.0 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| River-Osborne 5,090 · 1.2 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| West Broadway 6,537 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| Lord Roberts 5,104 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
The neighbour with the most fire is Roslyn (low), still no more than McMillan (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what McMillan faces
Practical steps for McMillan’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
- 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 McMillan.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for McMillan without grading them.
- Radon is a survey. Radon figures pool the survey’s home tests by area: postal areas once their boundaries arrive, the 2007 health region around McMillan until then.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, McMillan’s included.
Questions about flooding and hazards in McMillan
Does McMillan flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers McMillan (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
How is McMillan’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives McMillan B+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is McMillan at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: McMillan’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2012), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Is radon a problem in McMillan?
12% of the 66 homes Health Canada tested around McMillan topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How big is the earthquake risk in McMillan?
In NRCan’s seismic model, McMillan’s buildings lose $0.006 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
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).