Photo: Sancho McCann from Vancouver · CC BY 2.0Wildfire low, radon 12%: how Silver Heights stands on hazards
No wildfire is mapped within 25 km of Silver Heights’ homes since 1986 (0% of the land, 0.000% 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). Silver Heights grades B+ for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Silver Heights’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Silver Heights: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Silver Heights faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Silver Heights: B+
The grade weighs Silver Heights’ 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. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Few fires near Silver Heights: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Silver Heights’ residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
A burn rate of 0.000% a year keeps Silver Heights in the low band (the typical Canadian town: 0.000%).
Forest fuel is scarce around Silver Heights: 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
Little or nothing burns around Silver Heights 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.
Measured against 2,610 towns, Silver Heights is in the largest group, low (92%), and at its floor, while 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 Silver Heights
Flood studies whose area touches Silver Heights, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
The inventory has nothing for Silver Heights, but a local or conservation-authority map may still exist.
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Manitoba, 18% of towns against 58% nationally, and Silver Heights has none.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood mapping is shown for Silver Heights to be opened and checked, never turned into a grade.
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 Silver Heights: $0.006 per $1,000 of buildings a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Silver Heights’ $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
Earthquake risk around Silver Heights ($0.006) matches the middle in Manitoba ($0.006), far from Virden’s $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 Silver Heights 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).
The model counts damage to Silver Heights’ buildings and their occupants from shaking only: not liquefaction, landslides, tsunami or fires after a quake.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean). · Earthquake risk: one figure for all of the city of Winnipeg
12% of homes tested around Silver Heights are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Measured across the Winnipeg health region: radon tests
A higher share than most: 12% of tested homes around Silver Heights, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Silver Heights’ 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.
Silver Heights 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.
The share describes the area, not a house: in Silver Heights as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Silver Heights
Alerts for Silver Heights 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. |
Fire danger and active fires near Silver Heights are mapped daily by the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System; evacuation orders come from the municipality or province.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Silver Heights
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Silver Heights | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| Booth 9,016 · 1.2 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| Deer Lodge 3,691 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| Varsity View 2,985 · 1.8 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| Kirkfield 4,100 · 2.6 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| Heritage Park 5,817 · 2.6 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| Sturgeon Creek 3,202 · 2.8 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
Fire is no heavier anywhere nearby than around Silver Heights (low), with Booth next at low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Silver Heights faces
What to do about the hazards Silver Heights 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 Silver Heights without grading them.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Silver Heights’ homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- 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 Silver Heights until then.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Silver Heights’ figure is its subdivision’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Silver Heights
Does Silver Heights flood?
Nothing is listed for Silver Heights on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
Is radon a problem in Silver Heights?
In Health Canada’s survey, 12% of 66 homes tested in Silver Heights’ area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
How is Silver Heights’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Silver Heights grades B+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Silver Heights?
About $0.006 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Silver Heights.
Is Silver Heights at risk of wildfire?
No meaningful wildfire history near Silver Heights: 0% of nearby land since 1986, band low.
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).