Photo: Bonnie Isaac · CC0Hazards in Frenchman Butte No. 501: wildfire moderate, radon over the guideline in 11% of tested homes
The burn rate around Frenchman Butte No. 501 is 0.13% a year (4.2% of the land within 25 km since 1986), a moderate band. Shaking is less of a worry than in most places, at $0.004 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Frenchman Butte No. 501 grades A− for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Frenchman Butte No. 501’s hazards
For Frenchman Butte No. 501, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Frenchman Butte No. 501 faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Frenchman Butte No. 501 grades A− for hazard risk
For Frenchman Butte No. 501, 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.
Some fire around Frenchman Butte No. 501: 4.2% of the land within 25 km since 1986, 0.2% within 5 km
Past fire around Frenchman Butte No. 501’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Moderate: the land around Frenchman Butte No. 501 burns at 0.13% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Little near Frenchman Butte No. 501’s homes can carry a forest fire; only 1.9% of the land within 5 km is forest fuel, and 2.6% 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
In the top quarter in Saskatchewan: Frenchman Butte No. 501 ranks 6th of 105 at 0.13% a year, with La Loche first 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.
Moderate puts Frenchman Butte No. 501 above most of Canada’s 2,610 towns, yet 2.1% rank high or very high and 5.4% share its band.
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.
No flood study is listed for Frenchman Butte No. 501
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Frenchman Butte No. 501: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The inventory has nothing for Frenchman Butte No. 501, but a local or conservation-authority map may still exist.
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 55% of towns in Saskatchewan have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%, and Frenchman Butte No. 501 is not among them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Frenchman Butte No. 501’s homes stand in a flood zone.
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 Frenchman Butte No. 501: $0.004 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.004 per $1,000, Frenchman Butte No. 501 carries 0.1 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030): low.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Saskatchewan expects $0.006 a year in shaking damage; Frenchman Butte No. 501 expects less, $0.004, and Weyburn the most, $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.
Frenchman Butte No. 501 is among Canada’s quietest towns for earthquakes: 98% 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).
What a quake does after the shaking, fire, landslides, tsunami, falls outside NRCan’s figure for Frenchman Butte No. 501.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
11% of homes tested around Frenchman Butte No. 501 are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Source area for radon tests: the Prairie North RHA
the typical Canadian town has 6.6% over the guideline; Frenchman Butte No. 501’s area has 11%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Frenchman Butte No. 501’s area, at 11%, is close to the median 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 Frenchman Butte No. 501, 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.
Neighbouring homes in Frenchman Butte No. 501 can differ a lot; only a long-term test tells you about yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Frenchman Butte No. 501
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Frenchman Butte No. 501; Alert Ready carries the urgent ones to phones, radio and TV.
| 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. |
For fires near Frenchman Butte No. 501, the national fire information system maps danger and active fires daily; local authorities give any evacuation order.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Get ready for what Frenchman Butte No. 501 faces
Practical steps for Frenchman Butte No. 501’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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- How close is the forest edge?
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Frenchman Butte No. 501’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 Frenchman Butte No. 501.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Frenchman Butte No. 501 takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Frenchman Butte No. 501, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Frenchman Butte No. 501
How is Frenchman Butte No. 501’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Frenchman Butte No. 501 grades A− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is Frenchman Butte No. 501 at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Frenchman Butte No. 501’s band is moderate, with 4.2% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2025), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Does Frenchman Butte No. 501 flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Frenchman Butte No. 501 (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
How big is the earthquake risk in Frenchman Butte No. 501?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Frenchman Butte No. 501’s buildings lose $0.004 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is radon a problem in Frenchman Butte No. 501?
11% of the 103 homes Health Canada tested around Frenchman Butte No. 501 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).