Photo: David Adamec · Public domainOn hazards, Behchokò comes out behind almost every Canadian town
Wildfire is Behchokò’s dominant hazard: 45% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, 1.13% a year. Shaking is less of a worry than in most places, at $0.003 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Radon is about average around Behchokò: 5.4% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Behchokò grades D− for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Behchokò’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Behchokò: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Behchokò faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Behchokò: D−
Seismic risk and radon set Behchokò’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
60% of the land near Behchokò’s homes has burned since 1986, 45% within 25 km
Past fire around Behchokò’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The yearly burn rate around Behchokò is 1.13%, against 0.000% for the typical Canadian town: the very high band.
Forest thickens with distance from Behchokò: 66% of the land within 5 km, 71% 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 the Northwest Territories · highest of 4
Hay River burns fastest in the Northwest Territories at 2.24% a year; Behchokò, at 1.13%, ranks 2nd of 4.
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.
Behchokò is in the very high band, with only 0.2% of Canada’s 2,610 towns.
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 Behchokò
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Behchokò: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
An empty entry for Behchokò on the inventory isn’t proof of safety; ask locally for flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Behchokò has no flood study on file; 58% of Canada’s towns have one.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Behchokò.
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 Behchokò: $0.003 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Shaking costs the typical town $0.030 a year; in Behchokò it is only $0.003, 0.1 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
With too few towns in the Northwest Territories for a median of their own, Behchokò is set beside Canada’s: $0.003 against $0.030.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Nearly every one of Canada’s 2,611 towns (99%) expects more shaking damage than Behchokò.
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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Behchokò’s figure, nor landslides or tsunami: it is buildings and shaking.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Radon about average around Behchokò: 5.4% over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Shared with the rest of the Northwest Territories health region: radon tests
Near the middle for radon: Behchokò’s area 5.4%, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
No median in the Northwest Territories to compare with, the territory having too few towns; around Behchokò, 0.5% of tests passed 600 Bq/m³.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Radon tops the guideline in a modest share of homes around Behchokò, a band holding 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% 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.
One home in Behchokò can be high while next door is low; a three-month test settles it.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Behchokò
Alerts for Behchokò 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 Behchokò 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)
Get ready for what Behchokò faces
Practical steps for Behchokò’s hazards, most pressing first.
- Clear needles and wood nearby.
- Keep a grab-and-go bag ready.
- In smoke, stay in; filter air.
- 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.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- How close is the forest edge?
- 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 Behchokò without grading them.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Behchokò’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Behchokò’s 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 Behchokò until then.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Behchokò
Does Behchokò flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Behchokò, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
How big is the earthquake risk in Behchokò?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Behchokò’s buildings lose $0.003 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is Behchokò at risk of wildfire?
Wildfire is Behchokò’s main hazard, band very high: 45% of the land within 25 km burned between 1986 and 2025.
How is Behchokò’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Behchokò’s Hazard risk grade is D−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is radon a problem in Behchokò?
The area’s survey found 5.4% of 185 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Behchokò.
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).