Photo: Kjfmartin · CC BY-SA 3.0Around Esterhazy, 25% of tested homes have radon above the guideline
Around Esterhazy, wildfire is practically absent from the record: 0% within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. Shaking is less of a worry than in most places, at $0.006 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Esterhazy grades B− for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Esterhazy’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Esterhazy: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Esterhazy faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Esterhazy grades B− for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Esterhazy, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
Its place: #67 of 104 in Saskatchewan and #1,619 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
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.
Little of the land around Esterhazy has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Esterhazy’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Forty years of fire maps put Esterhazy at 0.000% a year, low next to the typical Canadian town’s 0.000%.
Little near Esterhazy’s homes can carry a forest fire; only 0% of the land within 5 km is forest fuel, and 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).
Burn rate a year, towns in Saskatchewan · highest of 104
Fire has taken almost none of the land around Esterhazy, as for 54 of the 104 towns in Saskatchewan; La Loche tops the list 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.
Most of the country’s 2,610 towns are low-band (92%, against 7.5% above); around Esterhazy, burning rounds to zero.
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 Esterhazy
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Esterhazy: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
NRCan’s inventory is silent on Esterhazy, so any flood map would be the municipality’s own.
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Saskatchewan reaches 55% of towns, below the 58% across Canada, and not Esterhazy.
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 Esterhazy 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.”
Little shaking expected in Esterhazy: $0.006 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
0.2 times the typical $0.030: Esterhazy’s $0.006 is low for Canada.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Neither high nor low in Saskatchewan: Esterhazy’s $0.006 sits by the median of $0.006, while Weyburn reaches $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.
Most of Canada’s 2,611 towns (88%) face more earthquake damage than Esterhazy.
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 Esterhazy’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).
Radon runs high around Esterhazy: 25% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
More homes than usual test high around Esterhazy: 25% against 6.6% for the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The median in Saskatchewan is 9.1% over 200 Bq/m³; the survey area around Esterhazy has 25%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Few of Canada’s 2,611 towns (3.1%) share the 20–30% band with Esterhazy, and 1.5% sit above it.
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.
Basements, soil and how a house is sealed decide its radon, so in Esterhazy only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Not measured by town: radon tests (the Sunrise RHA)
Weather and fire alerts for Esterhazy
Alerts for Esterhazy 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 Esterhazy 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 Esterhazy faces
What to do about the hazards Esterhazy 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. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Esterhazy’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Radon is a survey. Radon figures pool the survey’s home tests by area: postal areas once their boundaries arrive, the 2007 health region around Esterhazy until then.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Esterhazy without grading them.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Esterhazy’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Esterhazy
How big is the earthquake risk in Esterhazy?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Esterhazy $0.006 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Does Esterhazy flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Esterhazy’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
How is Esterhazy’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Esterhazy grades B− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is Esterhazy at risk of wildfire?
Hardly at all on record: 0% of the land within 25 km of Esterhazy since 1986, a low band, though small grass fires aren’t mapped.
Is radon a problem in Esterhazy?
Around Esterhazy, 108 survey homes were tested and 25% 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).