Photo: George Back · Public domainHazard risk in Île-à-la-Crosse is higher than in almost every Canadian town
Wildfire is Île-à-la-Crosse’s dominant hazard: 51% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, 1.33% a year. Shaking is less of a worry than in most places, at $0.003 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). In Health Canada’s survey, 14% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Île-à-la-Crosse grades D− for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Île-à-la-Crosse’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Île-à-la-Crosse: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Île-à-la-Crosse faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Île-à-la-Crosse grades D− for hazard risk
Seismic risk and radon set Île-à-la-Crosse’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Fire country: 51% of the land within 25 km of Île-à-la-Crosse has burned since 1986, 53% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Île-à-la-Crosse’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
At 1.33% of the land a year, Île-à-la-Crosse’s burn rate is very high, far beyond the typical Canadian town’s 0.000%.
The ring nearest Île-à-la-Crosse is the most wooded: 36% forest fuel within 5 km against 25% 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
The land around Île-à-la-Crosse burns at 1.33% a year, the 3rd highest rate of 105 towns in Saskatchewan; La Loche tops it 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.
Île-à-la-Crosse is in the very high band, with only 0.2% of Canada’s 2,610 towns.
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.
Water Security Agency has mapped flooding for Île-à-la-Crosse (1 study)
Flood studies whose area touches Île-à-la-Crosse, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Water Security Agency holds the flood mapping that covers Île-à-la-Crosse (1990), linked below.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ile-A-La-Crosse | Water Security Agency | 1990 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Île-à-la-Crosse 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.
Flood mapping is shown for Île-à-la-Crosse 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.
Little shaking expected in Île-à-la-Crosse: $0.003 a year per $1,000
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Shaking costs the typical town $0.030 a year; in Île-à-la-Crosse it is only $0.003, 0.1 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Saskatchewan expects $0.006 a year in shaking damage; Île-à-la-Crosse expects less, $0.003, 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.
Île-à-la-Crosse is among Canada’s quietest towns for earthquakes: 99% 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).
The loss is to Île-à-la-Crosse’s buildings alone, from ground shaking; infrastructure and secondary hazards are left out.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
14% of homes tested around Île-à-la-Crosse are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Radon runs above the typical Canadian town (6.6%) in Île-à-la-Crosse’s area, at 14%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Île-à-la-Crosse than in most towns in Saskatchewan: 14% over the guideline (9.1% is typical), 1.2% over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
4.6% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have a higher share of homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Île-à-la-Crosse, in the 10–20% band with 22%.
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.
The survey sampled homes around Île-à-la-Crosse; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Area behind the radon tests figures: the Mamawetan/Keewatin/Athabasca health region
Weather and fire alerts for Île-à-la-Crosse
Alerts for Île-à-la-Crosse 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 Île-à-la-Crosse 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 Île-à-la-Crosse faces
Practical steps for Île-à-la-Crosse’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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- How close is the forest edge?
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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 Île-à-la-Crosse.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Île-à-la-Crosse takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Île-à-la-Crosse’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Île-à-la-Crosse’s figure is its subdivision’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Île-à-la-Crosse
Is radon a problem in Île-à-la-Crosse?
The area’s survey found 14% of 166 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Île-à-la-Crosse.
Does Île-à-la-Crosse flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Île-à-la-Crosse; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
How is Île-à-la-Crosse’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Île-à-la-Crosse D−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is Île-à-la-Crosse at risk of wildfire?
Wildfire is Île-à-la-Crosse’s main hazard, band very high: 51% of the land within 25 km burned between 1986 and 2025.
How big is the earthquake risk in Île-à-la-Crosse?
Expected earthquake damage in Île-à-la-Crosse comes to $0.003 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
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).