Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Flood mapping exists for Estevan: 1 on record, latest by Saskatchewan Water Corporation, Water Security Agency
The national fire record shows next to nothing around Estevan, 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). Shaking is less of a worry than in most places, at $0.015 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). More homes than usual carry radon here, 14% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Estevan grades C+ for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Estevan’s hazards
For Estevan, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Estevan faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Estevan grades C+ for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Estevan with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #70 of 104 in Saskatchewan and #1,786 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
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 Estevan: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Estevan’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Forty years of fire maps put Estevan at 0.000% a year, low next to the typical Canadian town’s 0.000%.
Forest fuel is scarce around Estevan: 0.1% of the land within 5 km, 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
La Loche has the highest burn rate in Saskatchewan, 1.94% a year; around Estevan, as around 54 of the 104 towns, it rounds to 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.
Measured against 2,610 towns, Estevan is in the largest group, low (92%), and at its floor, while 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.
Saskatchewan Water Corporation, Water Security Agency has mapped flooding for Estevan (1 study)
Flood studies whose area touches Estevan, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
For Estevan the inventory points to Saskatchewan Water Corporation, Water Security Agency’s 2000 study, whose map is the one to check.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Estevan | Saskatchewan Water Corporation, Water Security Agency | 2000 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 55% of towns in Saskatchewan have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%; Estevan is one of them.
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 Estevan 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 Estevan: $0.015 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.
Estevan’s $0.015 is a fraction of the typical town’s $0.030 (0.5 times as much): quiet ground by Canadian standards.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Estevan’s $0.015 tops the median in Saskatchewan, $0.006, though 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.
Estevan is in the lower part of Canada’s range for earthquake risk; 72% of the 2,611 towns are higher.
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 Estevan 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).
Test for radon in Estevan: 14% of area homes were over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Measured across the Sun Country RHA: radon tests
the typical Canadian town has 6.6% over the guideline; Estevan’s area has 14%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
More homes top the guideline around Estevan (14%) than in the typical town in Saskatchewan (9.1%).
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
One test in ten or more tops the guideline around Estevan, as in 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 4.6% go 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.
Radon varies from house to house in Estevan, so the survey is a reason to test, not a result for yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Estevan
Alerts for Estevan 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 Estevan to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Estevan
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Estevan | Low | $0.015 | 14% | Yes |
| Estevan No. 5 1,293 · 4.5 km | Low | $0.016 | 14% | Yes |
Estevan’s low band tops its neighbours; Estevan No. 5 is next (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Estevan faces
What to do about the hazards Estevan 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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Wildfire counts one way. For Estevan, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Estevan without grading them.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Estevan’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’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 Estevan until then.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Estevan
Is radon a problem in Estevan?
In Health Canada’s survey, 14% of 116 homes tested in Estevan’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
How is Estevan’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Estevan C+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
How big is the earthquake risk in Estevan?
Expected earthquake damage in Estevan comes to $0.015 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is Estevan at risk of wildfire?
The burned-area record shows next to nothing around Estevan (0% within 25 km since 1986), so its band is low.
Does Estevan flood?
A flood study covers Estevan on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
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).