Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domainHazards in Lac Seul 28: wildfire low, radon over the guideline in 14% of tested homes
Fire seldom reaches Lac Seul 28: since 1986, 1.6% of the land within 25 km has burned (0.04% a year). Shaking is less of a worry than in most places, at $0.007 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Hazard risk gives Lac Seul 28 a grade of B; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Lac Seul 28’s hazards
For Lac Seul 28, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Lac Seul 28 faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Lac Seul 28: B
The grade weighs Lac Seul 28’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: 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.
Little of the land around Lac Seul 28 has burned: 0% within 5 km, 1.6% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Lac Seul 28’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Fire claims 0.04% of the land around Lac Seul 28 each year, a low band, with the typical Canadian town at 0.000%.
The closest burn since 1986 lies 19 km from Lac Seul 28’s homes, none within 5 km.
The nearer ring around Lac Seul 28 is less wooded (77% forest fuel) than the land out to 25 km (83%).
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 Ontario · highest of 872
Lac Seul 28 ranks 10th of the 872 towns in Ontario for burn rate, at 0.04% a year; Sioux Lookout leads with 0.16%.
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.
The low band takes in 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, Lac Seul 28 among them, though its rate is above zero; 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.
No flood study is listed for Lac Seul 28
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Lac Seul 28: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Nationally, Lac Seul 28 has no listed flood study; the municipality is the place to ask.
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are common in Ontario, 69% of towns against 58% nationally, but none in the inventory touches Lac Seul 28.
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 Lac Seul 28.
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 Lac Seul 28 just $0.007 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
0.2 times the typical $0.030: Lac Seul 28’s $0.007 is low for Canada.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.007, Lac Seul 28 is below the typical town in Ontario ($0.043); Alexandria is highest at $0.21.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Most of Canada’s 2,611 towns (88%) face more earthquake damage than Lac Seul 28.
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 Lac Seul 28.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
14% of homes tested around Lac Seul 28 are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Radon runs above the typical Canadian town (6.6%) in Lac Seul 28’s area, at 14%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Lac Seul 28 than in most towns in Ontario: 14% over the guideline (4% is typical), 1.9% over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
One test in ten or more tops the guideline around Lac Seul 28, as in 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 4.6% go 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, Lac Seul 28’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests: the Northwestern Health Unit
Where to get warnings in Lac Seul 28
Alerts for Lac Seul 28 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 Lac Seul 28 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)
Get ready for what Lac Seul 28 faces
What to do about the hazards Lac Seul 28 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
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Lac Seul 28 takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Lac Seul 28’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Wildfire counts one way. For Lac Seul 28, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- 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 Lac Seul 28.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Lac Seul 28
Is Lac Seul 28 at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 1.6% of the land around Lac Seul 28 since 1986 (last in 2003); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How is Lac Seul 28’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Lac Seul 28’s Hazard risk grade is B, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
How big is the earthquake risk in Lac Seul 28?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Lac Seul 28’s buildings lose $0.007 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is radon a problem in Lac Seul 28?
Around Lac Seul 28, 210 survey homes were tested and 14% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Does Lac Seul 28 flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Lac Seul 28’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).