Riverview’s hazards at a glance: a low wildfire record and 12% of area homes over the radon guideline
The national fire record shows next to nothing around Riverview, 0% of the land 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. Riverview grades B+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Riverview’s hazards
For Riverview, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Riverview faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Riverview: B+
The grade weighs Riverview’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
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 Riverview: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Riverview’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The land within 25 km of Riverview burns at 0.001% a year on average, the low band; the typical Canadian town: 0.000%.
Riverview’s homes have had no fire within 5 km since 1986; the closest was 22 km away.
Forest fuel is scarce around Riverview: 0% of the land within 5 km, 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 Riverview 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.
The low band takes in 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, Riverview 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 Riverview
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Riverview: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
An empty entry for Riverview on the inventory isn’t proof of safety; ask locally for flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Riverview has no flood study on file; only 18% of towns in Manitoba do, against 58% across Canada.
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 Riverview.
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 Riverview: $0.006 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
0.2 times the typical $0.030: Riverview’s $0.006 is low for Canada.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
About level with the typical town in Manitoba: Riverview’s $0.006 against $0.006; 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.
Riverview is in the lower part of Canada’s range for earthquake risk; 88% of the 2,611 towns are higher.
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 Riverview.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean). · Not measured by town: earthquake risk (the city of Winnipeg)
12% of homes tested around Riverview are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Riverview’s area, at 12%, is above the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town, so testing is worth more here than most places.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Riverview’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.
Riverview is in the 10–20% band, with 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; only 4.6% are 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.
Whatever Riverview’s 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). · Radon tests published for the Winnipeg health region, not by town
Where to get warnings in Riverview
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Riverview; 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. |
In fire season, check CWFIS for danger and active fires around Riverview, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Riverview
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Riverview | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| Lord Roberts 5,104 · 0.9 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| Norwood West 2,909 · 1.0 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| Glenwood 6,617 · 1.6 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| Norwood East 3,881 · 1.8 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| River-Osborne 5,090 · 1.8 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| McMillan 3,568 · 1.8 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Riverview (low); Lord Roberts comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Riverview faces
What to do about the hazards Riverview 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. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Riverview 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 Riverview until then.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Riverview’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Wildfire counts one way. For Riverview, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Riverview
Does Riverview flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Riverview’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
Is Riverview at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Riverview since 1986 (last in 2012); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
Is radon a problem in Riverview?
Around Riverview, 66 survey homes were tested and 12% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How big is the earthquake risk in Riverview?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Riverview’s buildings lose $0.006 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
How is Riverview’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Riverview B+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
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).