Photo: CambridgeBayWeather · Public domainFew places are as safe from hazards as Cambridge Bay: it beats almost every Canadian town
Wildfire barely registers for Cambridge Bay, at 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). Seismic risk runs low: $0.006 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Radon is lower than usual: 0% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Cambridge Bay a grade of A+; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Cambridge Bay’s hazards
For Cambridge Bay, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Cambridge Bay faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Cambridge Bay grades A+ for hazard risk
The grade weighs Cambridge Bay’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Only 78 homes were tested in the survey area, so the radon share is rough. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Wildfire is rare near Cambridge Bay: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Cambridge Bay’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Around Cambridge Bay fire takes 0.000% of the land in a typical year, the typical Canadian town 0.000%, which is low.
Land that isn’t forest covers nearly all the ground around Cambridge Bay: forest fuel is 0% within 5 km 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).
92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are in the low band and 7.5% above it; Cambridge Bay is among the many where the yearly burn rate rounds to zero.
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 Cambridge Bay
Flood studies whose area touches Cambridge Bay, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
There is no study for Cambridge Bay on the national flood inventory, which is far from complete.
Towns with a flood study on file
No inventory study touches Cambridge Bay, where 58% of Canadian towns have one.
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 Cambridge Bay 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.”
Earthquakes cost buildings in Cambridge Bay just $0.006 per $1,000 a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Cambridge Bay’s $0.006 is a fraction of the typical town’s $0.030 (0.2 times as much): quiet ground by Canadian standards.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Cambridge Bay’s $0.006 is measured against Canada’s median of $0.030, since few towns in Nunavut reach 2,500 people.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
88% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Cambridge Bay.
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).
What a quake does after the shaking, fire, landslides, tsunami, falls outside NRCan’s figure for Cambridge Bay.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
0% of homes tested around Cambridge Bay are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
A lower share than most: 0% of tested homes around Cambridge Bay, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
There is no median in Nunavut to compare with: the territory has too few towns, so Cambridge Bay’s 0% stands beside Canada’s figure.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
The quietest radon band, under 5%, holds 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns and Cambridge Bay; 63% sit 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.
Health Canada advises testing every home, Cambridge Bay’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests: one figure for all of the Nunavut health region
Where to get warnings in Cambridge Bay
Alerts for Cambridge Bay 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 Cambridge Bay 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 Cambridge Bay faces
What to do about the hazards Cambridge Bay faces, and what to ask before you buy.
- 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. For Cambridge Bay, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Cambridge Bay’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- 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 Cambridge Bay until then.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Cambridge Bay without grading them.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Cambridge Bay
Is Cambridge Bay at risk of wildfire?
The burned-area record shows next to nothing around Cambridge Bay (0% within 25 km since 1986), so its band is low.
How big is the earthquake risk in Cambridge Bay?
Expected earthquake damage in Cambridge Bay comes to $0.006 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Does Cambridge Bay flood?
Nothing is listed for Cambridge Bay on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
How is Cambridge Bay’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Cambridge Bay A+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is radon a problem in Cambridge Bay?
In Health Canada’s survey, 0% of 78 homes tested in Cambridge Bay’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
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).