Pembina Strip’s hazards at a glance: a low wildfire record and 12% of area homes over the radon guideline
Since 1986 almost nothing has burned near Pembina Strip: 0% of the land within 25 km, or 0.000% 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. Pembina Strip grades B+ for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Pembina Strip’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Pembina Strip: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Pembina Strip faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Pembina Strip grades B+ for hazard risk
For Pembina Strip, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. The radon share rests on 66 home tests in the survey area, so a few homes move it. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Few fires near Pembina Strip: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Past fire around Pembina Strip’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
At 0.000% of the land a year, Pembina Strip’s burn rate is in the low band; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Only 0% of the land within 25 km of Pembina Strip 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
Little or nothing burns around Pembina Strip in a typical year; 60 of the 189 towns in Manitoba share that, and Flin Flon (Part) leads 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.
The low band holds 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, and Pembina Strip sits at its very bottom; only 7.5% are 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 Pembina Strip
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Pembina Strip: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
No flood study on the national inventory covers Pembina Strip; ask the municipality, which is the authority for its flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
No study touches Pembina Strip; 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.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Pembina Strip’s homes are at risk.
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.”
Low seismic risk in Pembina Strip: $0.006 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.006 per $1,000, Pembina Strip carries 0.2 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030): low.
Pembina Strip shares its earthquake risk numbers with the rest of the city of Winnipeg.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Shaking damage around Pembina Strip runs at $0.006 a year, near the $0.006 of the typical town in Manitoba; Virden has $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 Pembina Strip 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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Pembina Strip’s figure, nor landslides or tsunami: it is buildings and shaking.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Radon runs high around Pembina Strip: 12% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
At 12% over the guideline, the area around Pembina Strip beats the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Pembina Strip’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.
One test in ten or more tops the guideline around Pembina Strip, as in 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 4.6% go higher.
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.
The survey sampled homes around Pembina Strip; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests published for the Winnipeg health region, not by town
Weather and fire alerts for Pembina Strip
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Pembina Strip; 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 Pembina Strip, 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 Pembina Strip’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pembina Strip | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| Maybank 4,817 · 1.4 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| Montcalm 5,676 · 1.5 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| Minnetonka 4,461 · 1.8 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| Pulberry 7,723 · 2.0 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| Waverley Heights 5,252 · 2.3 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| Point Road 3,290 · 2.5 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
The fire record around Pulberry is a touch heavier than Pembina Strip’s, but the band is the same: low (here low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Pembina Strip faces
Practical steps for Pembina Strip’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
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Pembina Strip takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Pembina Strip’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. The flood inventory points to maps; it is incomplete and not the official source, so ask the municipality about any street in Pembina Strip.
- 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 Pembina Strip’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Pembina Strip
Is Pembina Strip at risk of wildfire?
The burned-area record shows next to nothing around Pembina Strip (0% within 25 km since 1986), so its band is low.
How big is the earthquake risk in Pembina Strip?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Pembina Strip’s buildings lose $0.006 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
How is Pembina Strip’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Pembina Strip grades B+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Does Pembina Strip flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Pembina Strip (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
Is radon a problem in Pembina Strip?
12% of the 66 homes Health Canada tested around Pembina Strip topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
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).