Photo: Tim Beckett · CC BY 2.0Division No. 18, Unorganized faces more hazards than almost every Canadian town
Few towns burn like Division No. 18, Unorganized: 58% of the land within 25 km since 1986, at 1.65% a year. Shaking is less of a worry than in most places, at $0.003 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Radon is higher than usual: 14% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Division No. 18, Unorganized grades D− for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Division No. 18, Unorganized’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Division No. 18, Unorganized: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Division No. 18, Unorganized faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Division No. 18, Unorganized: D−
For Division No. 18, Unorganized, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
55% of the land near Division No. 18, Unorganized’s homes has burned since 1986, 58% within 25 km
Past fire around Division No. 18, Unorganized’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The yearly burn rate around Division No. 18, Unorganized is 1.65%, against 0.000% for the typical Canadian town: the very high band.
Within 5 km of Division No. 18, Unorganized, 42% of the land is forest fuel; widen the ring to 25 km and it is 50%.
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
The land around Division No. 18, Unorganized burns at 1.65% a year, the 3rd highest rate of 105 towns in Saskatchewan; La Loche tops it 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.
Division No. 18, Unorganized is in the very high band, with only 0.2% of Canada’s 2,610 towns.
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.
5 flood studies cover Division No. 18, Unorganized, the newest from Hydrologic Forecasting and Water Management Branch of Manitoba Transporation and Infrastructure
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Division No. 18, Unorganized: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
5 studies on the inventory touch Division No. 18, Unorganized, the newest Hydrologic Forecasting and Water Management Branch of Manitoba Transporation and Infrastructure ’s from 2025, and their areas can be large, so they say maps exist, not that the town floods.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hydrodynamic Modelling Study of the Saskatchewan, Carrot, and Pasquia Rivers - The Pas | Hydrologic Forecasting and Water Management Branch of Manitoba Transporation and Infrastructure | 2025 | final · not public |
| La Ronge | Water Security Agency | 2020 | under review · not public |
| Buffalo Narrows | Water Security Agency | 1990 | final |
| Ile-A-La-Crosse | Water Security Agency | 1990 | final |
| La Ronge | Water Security Agency | 1982 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Saskatchewan reaches 55% of towns, Division No. 18, Unorganized among them, below the 58% across Canada.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
No single decade dominates: 5 studies for Division No. 18, Unorganized between the 1980s and the 2020s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Division No. 18, Unorganized.
Flood mapping is shown for Division No. 18, Unorganized 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.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
Low seismic risk in Division No. 18, Unorganized: $0.003 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.003 per $1,000, Division No. 18, Unorganized carries 0.1 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030): low.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Division No. 18, Unorganized’s $0.003 sits under the median in Saskatchewan, $0.006, and well under Weyburn’s $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.
Division No. 18, Unorganized 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).
The model counts damage to Division No. 18, Unorganized’s buildings and their occupants from shaking only: not liquefaction, landslides, tsunami or fires after a quake.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Radon runs high around Division No. 18, Unorganized: 14% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
A higher share than most: 14% of tested homes around Division No. 18, Unorganized, the typical Canadian town 6.6%. Division No. 18, Unorganized shares its radon tests numbers with the rest of the Mamawetan/Keewatin/Athabasca health region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Division No. 18, Unorganized’s area, at 14%, is above the median in Saskatchewan (9.1%), and 1.2% of its tests passed 600 Bq/m³.
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 Division No. 18, Unorganized, 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.
One home in Division No. 18, Unorganized can be high while next door is low; a three-month test settles it.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Division No. 18, Unorganized
Alerts for Division No. 18, Unorganized 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 Division No. 18, Unorganized 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 Division No. 18, Unorganized faces
Practical steps for Division No. 18, Unorganized’s hazards, most pressing first.
- Clear needles and wood nearby.
- Keep a grab-and-go bag ready.
- In smoke, stay in; filter air.
- 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.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- How close is the forest edge?
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Division No. 18, Unorganized’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- 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 Division No. 18, Unorganized 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 Division No. 18, Unorganized floods.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Division No. 18, Unorganized’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Division No. 18, Unorganized
How is Division No. 18, Unorganized’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Division No. 18, Unorganized grades D− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Does Division No. 18, Unorganized flood?
Division No. 18, Unorganized’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
How big is the earthquake risk in Division No. 18, Unorganized?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Division No. 18, Unorganized $0.003 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is Division No. 18, Unorganized at risk of wildfire?
It is: 58% of the land within 25 km of Division No. 18, Unorganized has burned since 1986, the latest in 2025, which puts it in the very high band that lowers Risk.
Is radon a problem in Division No. 18, Unorganized?
14% of the 166 homes Health Canada tested around Division No. 18, Unorganized topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
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).