Hazards in Rivergrove: wildfire low, radon over the guideline in 12% of tested homes
Wildfire isn’t Rivergrove’s worry: 0% of the land within 25 km burned 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. Hazard risk gives Rivergrove a grade of B+; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Rivergrove’s hazards
For Rivergrove, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Rivergrove faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Rivergrove: B+
Two inputs always count for Rivergrove, 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. 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 Rivergrove has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Rivergrove’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
A burn rate of 0.001% a year keeps Rivergrove in the low band (the typical Canadian town: 0.000%).
Rivergrove’s homes have had no fire within 5 km since 1986; the closest was 14 km away.
Forest makes up 0% of the land within 5 km of Rivergrove and 0.1% within 25 km, little for a forest fire to run through.
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
At 0.001% a year, Rivergrove is near the top in Manitoba: 31st of 189, behind Flin Flon (Part) (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, Rivergrove 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.
No flood study is listed for Rivergrove
Flood studies whose area touches Rivergrove, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
An empty entry for Rivergrove on the inventory isn’t proof of safety; ask locally for flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Manitoba, 18% of towns against 58% nationally, and Rivergrove has none.
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 Rivergrove.
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 Rivergrove: $0.006 a year per $1,000
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: Rivergrove’s $0.006 is low for Canada.
Nobody publishes earthquake risk for Rivergrove alone, so this card uses the figure for the city of Winnipeg.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Neither high nor low in Manitoba: Rivergrove’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 Rivergrove.
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 Rivergrove.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Test for radon in Rivergrove: 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. · Area-wide: radon tests, counted over the Winnipeg health region
Rivergrove’s survey area reads 12% over the guideline, well past the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Rivergrove’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.
The 10–20% band holds 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, Rivergrove among them; 4.6% rank 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.
Neighbouring homes in Rivergrove can differ a lot; only a long-term test tells you about yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Rivergrove
Alerts for Rivergrove 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 Rivergrove to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Rivergrove
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rivergrove | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| Riverbend 5,453 · 0.5 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| Valhalla 3,153 · 0.8 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| River East 7,774 · 2.1 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| Rossmere-A 13,613 · 2.2 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| Kildonan Drive 5,063 · 2.2 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| Seven Oaks 3,244 · 2.9 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
Nowhere around Rivergrove burns more: Riverbend, the closest rival, is low to its low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Rivergrove faces
What to do about the hazards Rivergrove 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
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Rivergrove’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Wildfire counts one way. For Rivergrove, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- 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 Rivergrove.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Rivergrove takes its 2007 health region’s share.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Rivergrove
How big is the earthquake risk in Rivergrove?
Expected earthquake damage in Rivergrove comes to $0.006 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Does Rivergrove flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Rivergrove’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
Is Rivergrove at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Rivergrove since 1986 (last in 2012); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How is Rivergrove’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Rivergrove B+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is radon a problem in Rivergrove?
Around Rivergrove, 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).