Photo: Wtshymanski · Public domainHigh radon around Nipawin: 16% of homes tested in the area exceed 200 Bq/m³
Fire reaches the land around Nipawin now and then: 3.4% within 25 km since 1986 (0.09% a year), below the high band. Shaking is less of a worry than in most places, at $0.005 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Nipawin grades B+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Nipawin’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Nipawin: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Nipawin faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Nipawin: B+
Two inputs always count for Nipawin, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
Its place: #57 of 104 in Saskatchewan and #1,370 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
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.
Fire reaches the land around Nipawin: 0% within 5 km, 3.4% within 25 km
Past fire around Nipawin’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The yearly burn rate around Nipawin is 0.09%, above 0.000% for the typical Canadian town but under the high band.
The 5 km ring around Nipawin’s homes is clear of burns since 1986, the nearest 16 km out.
10% of the land within 5 km of Nipawin is forest fuel, close to the 8% 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 104
La Loche burns fastest in Saskatchewan at 1.94% a year; Nipawin, at 0.09%, ranks 7th of 104.
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.
Only 5.4% of Canada’s 2,610 towns share the moderate band with Nipawin, and 2.1% sit 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 Nipawin
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Nipawin: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The inventory has nothing for Nipawin, 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 Nipawin 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 Nipawin.
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 Nipawin: $0.005 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
0.2 times the typical $0.030: Nipawin’s $0.005 is low for Canada.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Shaking damage around Nipawin runs at $0.005 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.
Nearly every one of Canada’s 2,611 towns (96%) expects more shaking damage than Nipawin.
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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Nipawin’s figure, nor landslides or tsunami: it is buildings and shaking.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Test for radon in Nipawin: 16% of area homes were over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Measured across the Kelsey Trail RHA: radon tests
Radon runs above the typical Canadian town (6.6%) in Nipawin’s area, at 16%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
More homes top the guideline around Nipawin (16%) 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.
One test in ten or more tops the guideline around Nipawin, 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.
The share describes the area, not a house: in Nipawin as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Nipawin
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Nipawin; 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. |
Smoke and fire warnings for Nipawin come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Nipawin’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nipawin | Moderate | $0.005 | 16% | None listed |
| Torch River No. 488 1,277 · 19 km | High | $0.005 | 16% | None listed |
Fire is heaviest around Torch River No. 488 (high), against moderate for Nipawin.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Nipawin faces
What to do about the hazards Nipawin faces, and what to ask before you buy.
- 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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- How close is the forest edge?
- 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 Nipawin’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Nipawin’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- 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 Nipawin floods.
- 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 Nipawin sits in.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Nipawin
Does Nipawin flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Nipawin’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
Is radon a problem in Nipawin?
Around Nipawin, 100 survey homes were tested and 16% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Is Nipawin at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 3.4% of the land around Nipawin since 1986 (last in 2025); at moderate, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How is Nipawin’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Nipawin grades B+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Nipawin?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Nipawin’s buildings lose $0.005 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
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).