Birch Hills faces fewer hazards than 98% of Canadian towns
Little of the land around Birch Hills has burned: 0.3% within 25 km since 1986, or 0.007% a year. Earthquakes matter little: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.003 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Radon is about average around Birch Hills: 7.4% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Birch Hills a grade of A+; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Birch Hills’s hazards
For Birch Hills, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Birch Hills faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Birch Hills grades A+ for hazard risk
The grade weighs Birch Hills’ 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. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Little of the land around Birch Hills has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0.3% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Birch Hills’ homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Around Birch Hills fire takes 0.007% of the land in a typical year, the typical Canadian town 0.000%, which is low.
The 5 km ring around Birch Hills’ homes is clear of burns since 1986, the nearest 8.9 km out.
Little near Birch Hills’ homes can carry a forest fire; only 0% of the land within 5 km is forest fuel, and 0.2% 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 Saskatchewan · highest of 105
At 0.007% a year, Birch Hills ranks 39th of the 105 towns in Saskatchewan; La Loche leads at 1.94%.
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.
Some fire is mapped around Birch Hills, but not enough to leave the low band, where 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are; 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 Birch Hills
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Birch Hills: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
There is no study for Birch Hills on the national flood inventory, which is far from complete.
Towns with a flood study on file
Birch Hills has no flood study on file; only 55% of towns in Saskatchewan do, against 58% across Canada.
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 Birch Hills.
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 Birch Hills: $0.003 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
0.1 times the typical $0.030: Birch Hills’ $0.003 is low for Canada.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.003, Birch Hills is below the typical town in Saskatchewan ($0.006); Weyburn is highest at $0.033.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Birch Hills is among Canada’s quietest towns for earthquakes: 99% of the 2,611 expect more damage.
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 Birch Hills 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).
Some radon around Birch Hills: 7.4% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
At 7.4% over the guideline, the area around Birch Hills is about level with the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. Behind radon tests sits data gathered across the Prince Albert Parkland RHA, with Birch Hills one part of it.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon around Birch Hills is ordinary for towns in Saskatchewan: 7.4%, beside a median of 9.1%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Birch Hills is in the 5–10% band with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% have more.
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, Birch Hills’ included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Birch Hills
Alerts for Birch Hills 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 Birch Hills to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Get ready for what Birch Hills faces
What to do about the hazards Birch Hills 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
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Birch Hills’ included.
- 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 Birch Hills.
- 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 Birch Hills sits in.
- 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 Birch Hills floods.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Birch Hills
Is Birch Hills at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0.3% of the land around Birch Hills since 1986 (last in 2024); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
Does Birch Hills flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Birch Hills’ flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
How big is the earthquake risk in Birch Hills?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Birch Hills’ buildings lose $0.003 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
How is Birch Hills’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Birch Hills grades A+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is radon a problem in Birch Hills?
Around Birch Hills, 108 survey homes were tested and 7.4% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
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).