Photo: CP842c · CC BY-SA 4.0Maidstone’s hazards at a glance: a low wildfire record and 11% of area homes over the radon guideline
Wildfire is rare near Maidstone: 0.1% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, a burn rate of 0.003% a year. Earthquakes matter little: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.005 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Maidstone a grade of A−; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Maidstone’s hazards
For Maidstone, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Maidstone faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Maidstone: A−
Two inputs always count for Maidstone, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
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.
Few fires near Maidstone: 0% within 5 km, 0.1% within 25 km
Past fire around Maidstone’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Forty years of fire maps put Maidstone at 0.003% a year, low next to the typical Canadian town’s 0.000%.
The 5 km ring around Maidstone’s homes is clear of burns since 1986, the nearest 10 km out.
Around Maidstone the forest is thin or far off: 0% of the land within 5 km and 0.1% within 25 km is forest fuel.
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 upper half in Saskatchewan but far from La Loche (1.94%): Maidstone ranks 46th of 105, at 0.003% a year.
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.
7.5% of Canada’s 2,610 towns burn fast enough to rank moderate or above; Maidstone stays low, with 92%.
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 Maidstone
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Maidstone: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
There is no study for Maidstone on the national flood inventory, which is far from complete.
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 55% of towns in Saskatchewan have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%, and Maidstone is not among them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Maidstone floods.
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.”
Earthquakes cost buildings in Maidstone just $0.005 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Maidstone’s $0.005 is a fraction of the typical town’s $0.030 (0.2 times as much): quiet ground by Canadian standards.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk around Maidstone ($0.005) matches the middle in Saskatchewan ($0.006), far from Weyburn’s $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.
At the bottom of Canada’s range, Maidstone has 96% of the 2,611 towns above it.
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 Maidstone.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Radon runs high around Maidstone: 11% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Maidstone’s survey area reads 11% over the guideline, well past the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. Nobody publishes radon tests for Maidstone alone, so this card uses the figure for the Prairie North RHA.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The typical town in Saskatchewan has 9.1% over 200 Bq/m³; Maidstone’s area has 11%, much the same.
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 Maidstone, 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 Maidstone 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 Maidstone
Alerts for Maidstone 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 Maidstone to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Get ready for what Maidstone faces
What to do about the hazards Maidstone 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. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Maidstone’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. NRCan’s inventory says where flood mapping exists, not where water goes; the map’s owner is the authority for Maidstone.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Maidstone is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Maidstone, 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 Maidstone
Is radon a problem in Maidstone?
In Health Canada’s survey, 11% of 103 homes tested in Maidstone’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
How big is the earthquake risk in Maidstone?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Maidstone’s buildings lose $0.005 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
How is Maidstone’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Maidstone A−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is Maidstone at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0.1% of the land within 25 km of Maidstone has burned since 1986, the last in 2021, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
Does Maidstone flood?
Nothing is listed for Maidstone on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
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).