Wildfire low, radon 12%: how Meadows stands on hazards
The burned-area map is nearly blank around Meadows, 0% within 25 km since 1986, 0.001% a year. Earthquakes matter little: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.006 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Meadows grades B+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Meadows’s hazards
For Meadows, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Meadows faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Meadows: B+
Two inputs always count for Meadows, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
Its place: #10 of 185 in Manitoba and #940 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Only 66 homes were tested in the survey area, so the radon share is rough. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Wildfire is rare near Meadows: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Meadows’ homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Fire claims 0.001% of the land around Meadows each year, a low band, with the typical Canadian town at 0.000%.
Nothing inside 5 km of Meadows’ homes has burned since 1986, and the nearest scar is 13 km off.
Forest fuel is scarce around Meadows: 0% of the land within 5 km, 0.1% 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
Meadows 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.
Low, like 92% of the country’s 2,610 towns: the land around Meadows burns, but slower than in the 7.5% above it.
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 Meadows
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Meadows: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Nationally, Meadows has no listed flood study; the municipality is the place to ask.
Towns with a flood study on file
No study touches Meadows; in Manitoba, 18% of towns have one, below Canada’s 58%.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Nothing here counts toward Risk; the studies are pointers to the maps their owners keep for Meadows.
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 Meadows: $0.006 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Meadows’ $0.006 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
Neither high nor low in Manitoba: Meadows’ $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.
Most of Canada’s 2,611 towns (88%) face more earthquake damage than Meadows.
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 Meadows 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). · Earthquake risk: the city of Winnipeg
Radon runs high around Meadows: 12% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
A higher share than most: 12% of tested homes around Meadows, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon around Meadows is ordinary for towns in Manitoba: 12%, beside a median of 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 Meadows, 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.
Whatever Meadows’ 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). · Area behind the radon tests figures: the Winnipeg health region
Where to get warnings in Meadows
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Meadows; 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. |
For fires near Meadows, the national fire information system maps danger and active fires daily; local authorities give any evacuation order.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Meadows’ neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meadows | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| Radisson 3,653 · 1.1 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| Grassie 2,857 · 1.6 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| Victoria West 3,687 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| Peguis 11,177 · 2.3 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| Kildare-Redonda 8,294 · 2.5 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| Mission Gardens 3,979 · 2.5 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
Meadows’ low band tops its neighbours; Radisson is next (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Meadows faces
What to do about the hazards Meadows 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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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 Meadows.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Meadows, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Meadows’ census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Meadows is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Meadows
Does Meadows flood?
Nothing is listed for Meadows on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
Is radon a problem in Meadows?
In Health Canada’s survey, 12% of 66 homes tested in Meadows’ area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Is Meadows at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0% of the land within 25 km of Meadows has burned since 1986, the last in 2012, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
How big is the earthquake risk in Meadows?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Meadows’ buildings lose $0.006 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
How is Meadows’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Meadows’ Hazard risk grade is B+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
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).