Photo: sfbnurse https://www.flickr.com/people/sfbnurse/ · CC BY 2.0Fort Simpson faces more hazards than 96% of Canadian towns
Fire is a regular visitor: 11% of the land within 25 km of Fort Simpson has burned since 1986 (0.30% a year). Shaking is less of a worry than in most places, at $0.010 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Radon around Fort Simpson is ordinary for Canada: 5.4% of tested homes over the guideline (6.6% typical). Hazard risk gives Fort Simpson a grade of D−; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Fort Simpson’s hazards
For Fort Simpson, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Fort Simpson faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Fort Simpson: D−
Earthquake risk and radon make Fort Simpson’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Fire country: 11% of the land within 25 km of Fort Simpson has burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Fort Simpson’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
At 0.30% of the land a year, Fort Simpson’s burn rate is high, many times the typical Canadian town’s 0.000%.
Fire has stayed at least 11 km from Fort Simpson’s homes since 1986.
Forest fuel is denser close to Fort Simpson (90% within 5 km) than further out (81% 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
Some fire is mapped around Fort Simpson (0.30% a year), but it ranks only 3rd of 4 towns in the Northwest Territories; Hay River has 2.24%.
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.
Just 1.9% of Canada’s 2,610 towns burn fast enough for the high band where Fort Simpson sits; 0.2% burn faster.
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.
Fort Simpson is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Government of the Northwest Territories, Department of Environment and Climate Change
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Fort Simpson: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Government of the Northwest Territories, Department of Environment and Climate Change studied flooding in an area that includes Fort Simpson (2025); open its map to see which streets lie in a flood zone.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fort Simpson (Łı́ı́dlı̨ı̨ Kų́ę́) Flood Mapping | Government of the Northwest Territories, Department of Environment and Climate Change | 2025 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Like 58% of towns across Canada, Fort Simpson has a flood study in the inventory.
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 Fort Simpson 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.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Fort Simpson just $0.010 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.010 per $1,000, Fort Simpson carries 0.3 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030): low.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Canada’s median, $0.030, is the yardstick for Fort Simpson ($0.010): there are too few towns in the Northwest Territories for one of their own.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Fort Simpson is in the lower part of Canada’s range for earthquake risk; 86% 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).
For Fort Simpson 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).
5.4% of homes tested around Fort Simpson are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Around Fort Simpson, 5.4% of tested homes topped the guideline, near the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
With only a few towns in the Northwest Territories, there is no local median for Fort Simpson; its area had 0.5% of tests over 600 Bq/m³.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Between 5% and 10% of tests over the guideline: Fort Simpson, and 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% 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.
A low area share in Fort Simpson 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). · Area behind the radon tests figures: the Northwest Territories health region
Where to get warnings in Fort Simpson
Alerts for Fort Simpson 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 Fort Simpson 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 Fort Simpson faces
Practical steps for Fort Simpson’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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- How close is the forest edge?
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Fort Simpson takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Wildfire counts one way. Burned land within 25 km of where people live, averaged over 1986–2025 and checked for fuel near homes, is the measure; it looks back, not ahead, and only ever counts against Fort Simpson.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Fort Simpson’s included.
- 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 Fort Simpson.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Fort Simpson
Does Fort Simpson flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Fort Simpson; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
Is radon a problem in Fort Simpson?
5.4% of the 185 homes Health Canada tested around Fort Simpson topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
Is Fort Simpson at risk of wildfire?
It is: 11% of the land within 25 km of Fort Simpson has burned since 1986, the latest in 2025, which puts it in the high band that lowers Risk.
How is Fort Simpson’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Fort Simpson grades D− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Fort Simpson?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Fort Simpson’s buildings lose $0.010 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
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).