Photo: Bruce Guenter from Saskatoon, SK, Canada · CC BY 2.0Hazard risk in Laird No. 404 is lower than in 96% of Canadian towns
Wildfire isn’t Laird No. 404’s worry: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (0.000% a year). Seismic risk runs low: $0.005 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. About as many homes carry radon around Laird No. 404 as elsewhere, 6.6% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Laird No. 404 a grade of A+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Laird No. 404’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Laird No. 404: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Laird No. 404 faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Laird No. 404 grades A+ for hazard risk
The grade weighs Laird No. 404’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. The radon share rests on 76 home tests in the survey area, so a few homes move it. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Little of the land around Laird No. 404 has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Laird No. 404’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
With 0.000% burned a year, Laird No. 404 is among the many low-band places (the typical Canadian town 0.000%).
Little near Laird No. 404’s homes can carry a forest fire; only 0% of the land within 5 km is forest fuel, and 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 105
To three decimals the burn rate around Laird No. 404 is zero, as for 55 of the 105 towns in Saskatchewan, while La Loche reaches 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.
Most of the country’s 2,610 towns are low-band (92%, against 7.5% above); around Laird No. 404, burning rounds to zero.
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 Laird No. 404
Flood studies whose area touches Laird No. 404, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
NRCan’s inventory is silent on Laird No. 404, so any flood map would be the municipality’s own.
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 55% of towns in Saskatchewan have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%, and Laird No. 404 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 Laird No. 404.
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 Laird No. 404: $0.005 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.
0.2 times the typical $0.030: Laird No. 404’s $0.005 is low for Canada.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Typical for its province: Laird No. 404 at $0.005 beside a median in Saskatchewan of $0.006, with Weyburn on top 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.
Nearly every one of Canada’s 2,611 towns (96%) expects more shaking damage than Laird No. 404.
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 Laird No. 404’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).
6.6% of homes tested around Laird No. 404 are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Near the middle for radon: Laird No. 404’s area 6.6%, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Fewer homes top the guideline around Laird No. 404 (6.6%) 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.
26% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have more homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Laird No. 404’s 5–10% band, which holds 37%.
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.
One home in Laird No. 404 can be high while next door is low; a three-month test settles it.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Area behind the radon tests figures: the Saskatoon RHA
Weather and fire alerts for Laird No. 404
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Laird No. 404; 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 Laird No. 404, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Laird No. 404
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Laird No. 404 | Low | $0.005 | 6.6% | None listed |
| Waldheim 1,447 · 14 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | None listed |
| Rosthern No. 403 2,791 · 17 km | Low | $0.005 | 6.6% | None listed |
| Dalmeny 1,900 · 19 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | None listed |
The fire record around Rosthern No. 403 is a touch heavier than Laird No. 404’s, but the band is the same: low (here low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Laird No. 404 faces
What to do about the hazards Laird No. 404 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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Earthquakes are modelled. Shaking damage is modelled from the ground, the buildings and the odds of each quake, and published for whole subdivisions such as Laird No. 404’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Laird No. 404’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Laird No. 404 takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- 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 Laird No. 404.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Laird No. 404
Does Laird No. 404 flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Laird No. 404’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
Is Laird No. 404 at risk of wildfire?
The burned-area record shows next to nothing around Laird No. 404 (0% within 25 km since 1986), so its band is low.
How big is the earthquake risk in Laird No. 404?
About $0.005 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Laird No. 404.
How is Laird No. 404’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Laird No. 404 A+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is radon a problem in Laird No. 404?
Around Laird No. 404, 76 survey homes were tested and 6.6% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
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).