Photo: Beems3 · CC BY-SA 3.0Wildfire low, radon 12%: how Manitouwadge stands on hazards
Wildfire isn’t Manitouwadge’s worry: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (0.001% a year). Seismic risk runs low: $0.003 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Manitouwadge grades A− for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Manitouwadge’s hazards
For Manitouwadge, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Manitouwadge faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Manitouwadge grades A− for hazard risk
Seismic risk and radon set Manitouwadge’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. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Few fires near Manitouwadge: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Manitouwadge’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
The land within 25 km of Manitouwadge burns at 0.001% a year on average, the low band; the typical Canadian town: 0.000%.
Fire has stayed at least 22 km from Manitouwadge’s homes since 1986.
Near or far, forest fuel covers a similar share around Manitouwadge: 82% within 5 km and 85% 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 Ontario · highest of 872
At 0.001% a year, Manitouwadge is near the top in Ontario: 83rd of 872, behind Sioux Lookout (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.
Low, like 92% of the country’s 2,610 towns: the land around Manitouwadge burns, but slower than in the 7.5% above it.
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 Manitouwadge
Flood studies whose area touches Manitouwadge, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists no study whose area touches Manitouwadge, which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped.
Towns with a flood study on file
Missing from a well-mapped province: Manitouwadge has no study, where 69% of towns in Ontario have one against 58% nationally.
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 Manitouwadge 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.”
Low seismic risk in Manitouwadge: $0.003 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.
Shaking costs the typical town $0.030 a year; in Manitouwadge it is only $0.003, 0.1 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Below the middle in Ontario: Manitouwadge’s $0.003 against a median of $0.043; Alexandria has $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.
Nearly every one of Canada’s 2,611 towns (99%) expects more shaking damage than Manitouwadge.
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 Manitouwadge.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Test for radon in Manitouwadge: 12% of area homes were over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Radon runs above the typical Canadian town (6.6%) in Manitouwadge’s area, at 12%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Manitouwadge than in most towns in Ontario: 12% over the guideline (4% is typical), 0.9% over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
4.6% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have a higher share of homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Manitouwadge, in the 10–20% band with 22%.
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, Manitouwadge’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests published for the Thunder Bay District Health Unit, not by town
Where to get warnings in Manitouwadge
Alerts for Manitouwadge 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. |
Alert Ready carries evacuation orders for Manitouwadge to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Get ready for what Manitouwadge faces
Practical steps for Manitouwadge’s hazards, most pressing first.
- 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 Manitouwadge floods.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Manitouwadge’s included.
- 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 Manitouwadge sits in.
- 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 Manitouwadge.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Manitouwadge
Does Manitouwadge flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Manitouwadge, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
Is radon a problem in Manitouwadge?
The area’s survey found 12% of 108 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Manitouwadge.
How is Manitouwadge’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Manitouwadge A−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
How big is the earthquake risk in Manitouwadge?
About $0.003 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Manitouwadge.
Is Manitouwadge at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Manitouwadge’s low band (0% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2011) is short of the level that counts.
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).