Photo: Masterhatch · CC BY-SA 4.0A flood study covers Estevan No. 5: 1 on the national inventory, the newest from Saskatchewan Water Corporation, Water Security Agency
The national fire record shows next to nothing around Estevan No. 5, 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). Seismic risk in Estevan No. 5 sits near the middle: $0.016 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. In Health Canada’s survey, 14% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Estevan No. 5 grades C+ for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Estevan No. 5’s hazards
For Estevan No. 5, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Estevan No. 5 faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Estevan No. 5: C+
For Estevan No. 5, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
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.
Wildfire is rare near Estevan No. 5: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Estevan No. 5’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Next to the typical Canadian town (0.000% a year), Estevan No. 5’s 0.000% is in the low band.
Only 0% of the land within 25 km of Estevan No. 5 is forest fuel, and 0% close in.
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
Among the 105 towns in Saskatchewan, La Loche burns fastest (1.94% a year); Estevan No. 5 is with the 55 near zero.
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.
Estevan No. 5 shares the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, its burn rate rounding to nothing; 7.5% burn faster.
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.
Saskatchewan Water Corporation, Water Security Agency has mapped flooding for Estevan No. 5 (1 study)
Flood studies whose area touches Estevan No. 5, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Saskatchewan Water Corporation, Water Security Agency holds the flood mapping that covers Estevan No. 5 (2000), linked below.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Estevan | Saskatchewan Water Corporation, Water Security Agency | 2000 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Estevan No. 5 is one of the 55% of towns in Saskatchewan with a flood study on file, fewer than Canada’s 58%.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Estevan No. 5 floods.
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.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Estevan No. 5 $0.016 per $1,000 a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Nothing unusual about Estevan No. 5’s ground: $0.016 against a typical $0.030, 0.5 times.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Above the middle in Saskatchewan: Estevan No. 5’s $0.016 against a median of $0.006, with Weyburn 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.
Earthquakes cost less around Estevan No. 5 than in 71% of Canada’s 2,611 towns.
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 Estevan No. 5.
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 Estevan No. 5: 14% of tested homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
A higher share than most: 14% of tested homes around Estevan No. 5, the typical Canadian town 6.6%. Figures for radon tests are published for the Sun Country RHA as a whole, not for Estevan No. 5 alone.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Estevan No. 5 than in most towns in Saskatchewan: 14% against 9.1%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Estevan No. 5 is in the 10–20% band, with 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; only 4.6% are 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.
A low area share in Estevan No. 5 doesn’t clear a house, nor does a high one condemn it: test.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Estevan No. 5
Alerts for Estevan No. 5 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 Estevan No. 5 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)
Hazards in the places around Estevan No. 5
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Estevan No. 5 | Low | $0.016 | 14% | Yes |
| Estevan 11,391 · 4.5 km | Low | $0.015 | 14% | Yes |
Estevan No. 5’s low band tops its neighbours; Estevan is next (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Estevan No. 5 faces
Practical steps for Estevan No. 5’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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- 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, Estevan No. 5 takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Estevan No. 5, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Estevan No. 5’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- 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 Estevan No. 5.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Estevan No. 5
Is radon a problem in Estevan No. 5?
14% of the 116 homes Health Canada tested around Estevan No. 5 topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
Is Estevan No. 5 at risk of wildfire?
Very little by the national record: Estevan No. 5’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Does Estevan No. 5 flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Estevan No. 5; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Estevan No. 5?
About $0.016 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Estevan No. 5.
How is Estevan No. 5’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Estevan No. 5 grades C+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
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).