Photo: OhanaUnited Talk page · CC BY-SA 4.0Rankin Inlet faces fewer hazards than almost every Canadian town
Wildfire barely registers for Rankin Inlet, at 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). Shaking is less of a worry than in most places, at $0.004 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). In Health Canada’s survey, just 0% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Rankin Inlet grades A+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Rankin Inlet’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Rankin Inlet: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Rankin Inlet faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Rankin Inlet grades A+ for hazard risk
The grade weighs Rankin Inlet’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
Its place: #1 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The radon share rests on 78 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 Rankin Inlet: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Rankin Inlet’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Fire claims 0.000% of the land around Rankin Inlet each year, a low band, with the typical Canadian town at 0.000%.
Rankin Inlet’s homes have had no fire within 5 km since 1986; the closest was 24 km away.
Forest fuel is scarce around Rankin Inlet: 0% of the land within 5 km, 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).
Like most of Canada’s 2,610 towns (92%), Rankin Inlet is in the low band, with a burn rate of zero to three decimals; 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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Rankin Inlet
Flood studies whose area touches Rankin Inlet, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
There is no study for Rankin Inlet on the national flood inventory, which is far from complete.
Towns with a flood study on file
No inventory study touches Rankin Inlet, 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.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Rankin Inlet’s homes are at risk.
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 Rankin Inlet: $0.004 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.
0.1 times the typical $0.030: Rankin Inlet’s $0.004 is low for Canada.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
With too few towns in Nunavut for a median of their own, Rankin Inlet is set beside Canada’s: $0.004 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 (98%) expects more shaking damage than Rankin Inlet.
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 Rankin Inlet’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).
Little radon around Rankin Inlet: 0% of area homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Area-wide: radon tests, counted over the Nunavut health region
At 0% over the guideline, the area around Rankin Inlet is under the typical Canadian town’s 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 Rankin Inlet’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 Rankin Inlet; 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.
The survey sampled homes around Rankin Inlet; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Rankin Inlet
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Rankin Inlet; Alert Ready carries the urgent ones to phones, radio and TV.
| 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. |
In fire season, check CWFIS for danger and active fires around Rankin Inlet, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Get ready for what Rankin Inlet faces
What to do about the hazards Rankin Inlet 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
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. A study’s area can be a whole watershed or province, so being on the inventory says a map exists, not that a home in Rankin Inlet floods.
- Radon is a survey. The radon share comes from about 14,000 long-term home tests in 2009–2011, pooled for now by the 2007 health region Rankin Inlet sits in.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Rankin Inlet’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- 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 Rankin Inlet’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Rankin Inlet
Is radon a problem in Rankin Inlet?
Around Rankin Inlet, 78 survey homes were tested and 0% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How is Rankin Inlet’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Rankin Inlet grades A+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Rankin Inlet?
About $0.004 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Rankin Inlet.
Is Rankin Inlet at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Rankin Inlet since 1986 (last in 1994); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
Does Rankin Inlet flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Rankin Inlet’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
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).