Photo: Krazytea · CC BY-SA 4.0Minto’s hazards at a glance: a low wildfire record and 12% of area homes over the radon guideline
The burned-area map is nearly blank around Minto, 0% within 25 km 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). Minto grades B+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Minto’s hazards
For Minto, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Minto faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Minto: B+
Two inputs always count for Minto, 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: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. 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 Minto: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Minto’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Low: the land around Minto burns at 0.001% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
No fire has burned within 5 km of Minto’s homes since 1986; the nearest burn is 23 km away.
Little near Minto’s homes can carry a forest fire; only 0% of the land within 5 km is forest fuel, and 0% 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
The land around Minto burns at 0.001% a year, the 31st highest rate of 189 towns in Manitoba; Flin Flon (Part) tops it at 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 Minto 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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Minto
Flood studies whose area touches Minto, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
There is no study for Minto on the national flood inventory, which is far from complete.
Towns with a flood study on file
No study touches Minto; 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.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Minto.
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 Minto 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: Minto’s $0.006 is low for Canada.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Neither high nor low in Manitoba: Minto’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.
Toward the quiet end of Canada’s range: 88% of its 2,611 towns sit above Minto.
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 Minto.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean). · Data for earthquake risk covers the city of Winnipeg
Test for radon in Minto: 12% of area homes were over the 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 Winnipeg health region
A higher share than most: 12% of tested homes around Minto, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Minto, 12% of tests topped the guideline, about the same as the typical town in Manitoba (12%).
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
More high tests than most: Minto sits in a band that only 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns share, with 4.6% 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.
Radon varies from house to house in Minto, so the survey is a reason to test, not a result for yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Minto
Alerts for Minto 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 Minto to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Minto’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minto | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| Sargent Park 6,242 · 1.0 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| Wolseley 8,127 · 1.4 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| St. Matthews 5,699 · 1.5 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| Daniel McIntyre 9,584 · 1.6 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| King Edward 7,190 · 1.9 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| North River Heights 7,228 · 2.1 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
Sargent Park (low) has the heaviest fire record of Minto’s neighbours, and Minto (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Minto faces
What to do about the hazards Minto 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
- 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 Minto until then.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Minto’s included.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Minto without grading them.
- 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 Minto.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Minto
Is radon a problem in Minto?
Around Minto, 66 survey homes were tested and 12% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Does Minto flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Minto’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
How big is the earthquake risk in Minto?
Expected earthquake damage in Minto comes to $0.006 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
How is Minto’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Minto’s Hazard risk grade is B+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is Minto at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Minto since 1986 (last in 2012); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
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).