Photo: Krazytea · CC BY-SA 3.0Wolseley’s hazards at a glance: a low wildfire record and 12% of area homes over the radon guideline
No wildfire is mapped within 25 km of Wolseley’s homes since 1986 (0% of the land, 0.001% 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). Hazard risk gives Wolseley a grade of B+; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Wolseley’s hazards
For Wolseley, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Wolseley faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Wolseley grades B+ for hazard risk
For Wolseley, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
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 Wolseley has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Wolseley’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
A burn rate of 0.001% a year keeps Wolseley in the low band (the typical Canadian town: 0.000%).
The 5 km ring around Wolseley’s homes is clear of burns since 1986, the nearest 23 km out.
Forest makes up 0% of the land within 5 km of Wolseley and 0% 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, Wolseley 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.
7.5% of Canada’s 2,610 towns burn fast enough to rank moderate or above; Wolseley stays low, with 92%.
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 Wolseley
Flood studies whose area touches Wolseley, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
There is no study for Wolseley on the national flood inventory, which is far from complete.
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Manitoba reaches 18% of towns, below the 58% across Canada, and not Wolseley.
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 Wolseley 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 Wolseley: $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.
Shaking costs the typical town $0.030 a year; in Wolseley it is only $0.006, 0.2 times as much.
For earthquake risk, the only official count covers all of the city of Winnipeg, Wolseley included.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
About level with the typical town in Manitoba: Wolseley’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.
Earthquakes cost less around Wolseley 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).
For Wolseley the model prices shaking damage to buildings, nothing more.
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 Wolseley are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Radon runs above the typical Canadian town (6.6%) in Wolseley’s area, at 12%. Behind radon tests sits data gathered across the Winnipeg health region, with Wolseley one part of it.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Wolseley’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, Wolseley 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.
A low area share in Wolseley doesn’t clear a house, nor does a high one condemn it: test.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Wolseley
Alerts for Wolseley 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 Wolseley 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 Wolseley’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wolseley | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| North River Heights 7,228 · 1.2 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| Crescentwood 3,060 · 1.2 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| West Broadway 6,537 · 1.2 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| St. Matthews 5,699 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| Minto 5,830 · 1.4 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| Roslyn 4,411 · 1.6 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
North River Heights (low) has the heaviest fire record of Wolseley’s neighbours, and Wolseley (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Wolseley faces
Practical steps for Wolseley’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
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Wolseley’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. NRCan’s inventory says where flood mapping exists, not where water goes; the map’s owner is the authority for Wolseley.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Wolseley is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Wolseley, 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 Wolseley
Is radon a problem in Wolseley?
The area’s survey found 12% of 66 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Wolseley.
How big is the earthquake risk in Wolseley?
About $0.006 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Wolseley.
Does Wolseley flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Wolseley, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
Is Wolseley at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Wolseley’s low band (0% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2012) is short of the level that counts.
How is Wolseley’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Wolseley’s Hazard risk grade is B+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
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).