Whyte Ridge’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 Whyte Ridge: 0% of the land within 25 km, or 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). Whyte Ridge grades B+ for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Whyte Ridge’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Whyte Ridge: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Whyte Ridge faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Whyte Ridge grades B+ for hazard risk
Seismic risk and radon set Whyte Ridge’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
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. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Wildfire is rare near Whyte Ridge: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Whyte Ridge’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
With 0.000% burned a year, Whyte Ridge is among the many low-band places (the typical Canadian town 0.000%).
Little near Whyte Ridge’s homes can carry a forest fire; only 0% of the land within 5 km is forest fuel, and 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
Of the 189 towns in Manitoba, 60 have a burn rate that rounds to zero, Whyte Ridge among them; Flin Flon (Part) leads at 1.68% a year.
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, Whyte Ridge 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.
No flood study is listed for Whyte Ridge
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Whyte Ridge: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
NRCan’s inventory is silent on Whyte Ridge, so any flood map would be the municipality’s own.
Towns with a flood study on file
No study touches Whyte Ridge; 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.
Flood mapping is shown for Whyte Ridge 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 Whyte Ridge: $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, Whyte Ridge carries 0.2 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030): low.
Whyte Ridge shares its earthquake risk numbers with the rest of the city of Winnipeg.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Typical for its province: Whyte Ridge at $0.006 beside a median in Manitoba of $0.006, with Virden on top 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.
Toward the quiet end of Canada’s range: 88% of its 2,611 towns sit above Whyte Ridge.
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 Whyte Ridge’s 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).
12% of homes tested around Whyte Ridge are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
More homes than usual test high around Whyte Ridge: 12% against 6.6% for the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The typical town in Manitoba has 12% over 200 Bq/m³; Whyte Ridge’s area has 12%, much the same.
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 Whyte Ridge, 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 Whyte Ridge; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests: the Winnipeg health region
Weather and fire alerts for Whyte Ridge
Alerts for Whyte Ridge 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 Whyte Ridge 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 Whyte Ridge’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whyte Ridge | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| Bridgwater Forest 5,076 · 2.0 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| Linden Woods 11,134 · 2.3 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| Bridgwater Trails 11,365 · 2.5 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| Waverley Heights 5,252 · 2.9 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| Tuxedo Industrial 2,726 · 3.3 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| Fairfield Park 4,578 · 3.5 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
The neighbour with the most fire is Bridgwater Forest (low), still no more than Whyte Ridge (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Whyte Ridge faces
Practical steps for Whyte Ridge’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
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Whyte Ridge’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 Whyte Ridge.
- 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 Whyte Ridge’s.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Whyte Ridge takes its 2007 health region’s share.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Whyte Ridge
Is radon a problem in Whyte Ridge?
12% of the 66 homes Health Canada tested around Whyte Ridge topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How big is the earthquake risk in Whyte Ridge?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Whyte Ridge $0.006 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is Whyte Ridge at risk of wildfire?
Hardly at all on record: 0% of the land within 25 km of Whyte Ridge since 1986, a low band, though small grass fires aren’t mapped.
How is Whyte Ridge’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Whyte Ridge’s Hazard risk grade is B+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Does Whyte Ridge flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Whyte Ridge (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
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).