Photo: Tourismhumboldt · CC BY-SA 3.0Humboldt faces fewer hazards than 92% of Canadian towns
Since 1986 almost nothing has burned near Humboldt: 0% of the land within 25 km, or 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). Radon is about average around Humboldt: 6.6% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Humboldt grades A for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Humboldt’s hazards
For Humboldt, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Humboldt faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Humboldt grades A for hazard risk
For Humboldt, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
Its place: #5 of 104 in Saskatchewan and #291 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Only 76 homes were tested in the survey area, so the radon share is rough. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Few fires near Humboldt: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Past fire around Humboldt’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Around Humboldt fire takes 0.000% of the land in a typical year, the typical Canadian town 0.000%, which is low.
With 0% forest fuel within 5 km and 0% within 25 km, the land around Humboldt gives a fire little to burn.
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 Humboldt, 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.
Humboldt 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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Humboldt
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Humboldt: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists no study whose area touches Humboldt, which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped.
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 55% of towns in Saskatchewan have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%, and Humboldt is not among them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Nothing here counts toward Risk; the studies are pointers to the maps their owners keep for Humboldt.
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.”
Low seismic risk in Humboldt: $0.006 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.006 per $1,000, Humboldt carries 0.2 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030): low.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Shaking damage around Humboldt runs at $0.006 a year, near the $0.006 of the typical town in Saskatchewan; Weyburn has $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.
88% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Humboldt.
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 Humboldt 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).
Some radon around Humboldt: 6.6% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Humboldt’s area sits close to the typical Canadian town: 6.6% over the guideline, against 6.6%. Figures for radon tests are published for the Saskatoon RHA as a whole, not for Humboldt alone.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Against the typical town in Saskatchewan (9.1%), the area around Humboldt has fewer high tests: 6.6%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Radon tops the guideline in a modest share of homes around Humboldt, a band holding 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% rank above.
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 Humboldt 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 Humboldt
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Humboldt; 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. |
In fire season, check CWFIS for danger and active fires around Humboldt, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Humboldt’s neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Humboldt | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | None listed |
| Humboldt No. 370 1,039 · 3.8 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | None listed |
Nowhere around Humboldt burns more: Humboldt No. 370, the closest rival, is low to its low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Humboldt faces
Practical steps for Humboldt’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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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 Humboldt until then.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Humboldt’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Humboldt without grading them.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Humboldt, 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 Humboldt
How big is the earthquake risk in Humboldt?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Humboldt’s buildings lose $0.006 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is Humboldt at risk of wildfire?
Very little by the national record: Humboldt’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Does Humboldt flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Humboldt (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
Is radon a problem in Humboldt?
6.6% of the 76 homes Health Canada tested around Humboldt topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How is Humboldt’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Humboldt A, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
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).