Photo: Regriemer · CC BY-SA 3.0Hazards in Mervin No. 499: wildfire low, radon over the guideline in 11% of tested homes
Wildfire is rare near Mervin No. 499: 0.3% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, a burn rate of 0.007% a year. Shaking is less of a worry than in most places, at $0.004 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Mervin No. 499 grades A− for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Mervin No. 499’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Mervin No. 499: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Mervin No. 499 faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Mervin No. 499: A−
For Mervin No. 499, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Little of the land around Mervin No. 499 has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0.3% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Mervin No. 499’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
A burn rate of 0.007% a year keeps Mervin No. 499 in the low band (the typical Canadian town: 0.000%).
The 5 km ring around Mervin No. 499’s homes is clear of burns since 1986, the nearest 9.0 km out.
6.5% of the land within 25 km of Mervin No. 499 is forest fuel, yet only 1.1% within 5 km of its homes.
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%): Mervin No. 499 ranks 39th of 105, at 0.007% 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.
Low, like 92% of the country’s 2,610 towns: the land around Mervin No. 499 burns, but slower than in the 7.5% above it.
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 Mervin No. 499
Flood studies whose area touches Mervin No. 499, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
The inventory has nothing for Mervin No. 499, 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 Mervin No. 499 is not among them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Mervin No. 499’s homes are at risk.
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 Mervin No. 499: $0.004 per $1,000 of buildings a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
At $0.004 per $1,000, Mervin No. 499 carries 0.1 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030): low.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Mervin No. 499’s $0.004 sits under the median in Saskatchewan, $0.006, and well under 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, Mervin No. 499 has 98% 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).
The model counts damage to Mervin No. 499’s buildings and their occupants from shaking only: not liquefaction, landslides, tsunami or fires after a quake.
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 Mervin No. 499: 11% of tested homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Shared with the rest of the Prairie North RHA: radon tests
Mervin No. 499’s survey area reads 11% over the guideline, well past the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Mervin No. 499, 11% of tests topped the guideline, about the same as 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.
One test in ten or more tops the guideline around Mervin No. 499, 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.
One home in Mervin No. 499 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).
Weather and fire alerts for Mervin No. 499
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Mervin No. 499; 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 Mervin No. 499, 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 Mervin No. 499 faces
Practical steps for Mervin No. 499’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. The radon share comes from about 14,000 long-term home tests in 2009–2011, pooled for now by the 2007 health region Mervin No. 499 sits in.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. A study’s area can be a whole watershed or province, so being on the inventory says a map exists, not that a home in Mervin No. 499 floods.
- 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 Mervin No. 499’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Mervin No. 499’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Mervin No. 499
Is radon a problem in Mervin No. 499?
11% of the 103 homes Health Canada tested around Mervin No. 499 topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How is Mervin No. 499’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Mervin No. 499 A−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is Mervin No. 499 at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Mervin No. 499’s band is low, with 0.3% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2024), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Mervin No. 499?
Expected earthquake damage in Mervin No. 499 comes to $0.004 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Does Mervin No. 499 flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Mervin No. 499 (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask 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).