Photo: Sharon Hahn Darlin · CC BY 2.0West Broadway’s hazards at a glance: a low wildfire record and 12% of area homes over the radon guideline
Wildfire isn’t West Broadway’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 West Broadway a grade of B+; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about West Broadway’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for West Broadway: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What West Broadway faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
West Broadway grades B+ for hazard risk
Earthquake risk and radon make West Broadway’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
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 West Broadway: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where West Broadway’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
The yearly burn rate around West Broadway is 0.001%, low beside 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Nothing inside 5 km of West Broadway’s homes has burned since 1986, and the nearest scar is 22 km off.
Only 0% of the land within 25 km of West Broadway 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
At 0.001% a year, West Broadway 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.
West Broadway is in the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns; 7.5% sit in moderate or 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 West Broadway
Flood studies whose area touches West Broadway, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
NRCan’s inventory is silent on West Broadway, so any flood map would be the municipality’s own.
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Manitoba, 18% of towns against 58% nationally, and West Broadway 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 West Broadway 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 West Broadway: $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.
At $0.006 per $1,000, West Broadway carries 0.2 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030): low.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The median in Manitoba is $0.006; West Broadway, at $0.006, is right beside it, and Virden tops the list at $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.
West Broadway 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).
The loss is to West Broadway’s buildings alone, from ground shaking; infrastructure and secondary hazards are left out.
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
12% of homes tested around West Broadway are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
West Broadway’s area, at 12%, is above the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town, so testing is worth more here than most places. Nobody publishes radon tests for West Broadway alone, so this card uses the figure for the Winnipeg health region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
West Broadway’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.
West Broadway 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 survey sampled homes around West Broadway; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for West Broadway
Alerts for West Broadway 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. |
Evacuation orders for West Broadway come from the municipality or the province, while CWFIS maps fire danger every day.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How West Broadway’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| West Broadway | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| Roslyn 4,411 · 0.8 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| St. Matthews 5,699 · 1.0 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| Spence 4,378 · 1.2 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| Broadway-Assiniboine 5,871 · 1.2 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| South Portage 3,037 · 1.2 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| Wolseley 8,127 · 1.2 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
Among its neighbours West Broadway has the most fire on record (low); Roslyn follows (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what West Broadway faces
Practical steps for West Broadway’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
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. A study’s area can be a whole watershed or province, so being on the inventory says a map exists, not that a home in West Broadway floods.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around West Broadway’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Radon is a survey. The radon share comes from about 14,000 long-term home tests in 2009–2011, pooled for now by the 2007 health region West Broadway sits in.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; West Broadway’s figure is its subdivision’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in West Broadway
Does West Broadway flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers West Broadway (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
How big is the earthquake risk in West Broadway?
Expected earthquake damage in West Broadway comes to $0.006 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is radon a problem in West Broadway?
12% of the 66 homes Health Canada tested around West Broadway topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How is West Broadway’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
West Broadway’s Hazard risk grade is B+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is West Broadway at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: West Broadway’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2012), so wildfire doesn’t change its 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).