Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domainHigh radon around Orkney No. 244: 25% of homes tested in the area exceed 200 Bq/m³
Fire seldom reaches Orkney No. 244: since 1986, 0.3% of the land within 25 km has burned (0.008% a year). Seismic risk runs low: $0.007 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Hazard risk gives Orkney No. 244 a grade of B−; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Orkney No. 244’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Orkney No. 244: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Orkney No. 244 faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Orkney No. 244 grades B− for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Orkney No. 244 with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
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.
Wildfire is rare near Orkney No. 244: 0.3% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Orkney No. 244’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The land within 25 km of Orkney No. 244 burns at 0.008% a year on average, the low band; the typical Canadian town: 0.000%.
Orkney No. 244’s homes have had no fire within 5 km since 1986; the closest was 19 km away.
Little near Orkney No. 244’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
Orkney No. 244 burns at 0.008% a year, 36th of 105 towns in Saskatchewan; the leader, 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.
Orkney No. 244 is in the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns; 7.5% sit in moderate or higher.
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.
Flooding around Orkney No. 244 is mapped in 2 studies, the newest by Water Security Agency
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Orkney No. 244: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
For Orkney No. 244 the inventory points to 2 studies, most recently Water Security Agency’s in 2020.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yorkton | Water Security Agency | 2020 | under review · not public |
| Yorkton | Water Security Agency | 1992 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 55% of towns in Saskatchewan have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%; Orkney No. 244 is one of them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood mapping around Orkney No. 244 has come in steps: 2 studies from the 1990s to the 2020s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Orkney No. 244.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Orkney No. 244’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.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
Little shaking expected in Orkney No. 244: $0.007 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Orkney No. 244’s $0.007 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
Neither high nor low in Saskatchewan: Orkney No. 244’s $0.007 sits by the median of $0.006, while Weyburn reaches $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.
Earthquakes cost less around Orkney No. 244 than in 88% of Canada’s 2,611 towns.
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 Orkney No. 244’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).
Radon runs high around Orkney No. 244: 25% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
A higher share than most: 25% of tested homes around Orkney No. 244, the typical Canadian town 6.6%. Behind radon tests sits data gathered across the Sunrise RHA, with Orkney No. 244 one part of it.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Orkney No. 244’s area, at 25%, is above the median in Saskatchewan (9.1%).
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
One home in five or more tests over the guideline around Orkney No. 244; 3.1% of Canada’s 2,611 towns are in that band and 1.5% 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 survey sampled homes around Orkney No. 244; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Orkney No. 244
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Orkney No. 244; 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 Orkney No. 244, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Orkney No. 244
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orkney No. 244 | Low | $0.007 | 25% | Yes |
| Yorkton 17,543 · 13 km | Low | $0.007 | 25% | Yes |
Orkney No. 244’s low band tops its neighbours; Yorkton is next (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Orkney No. 244 faces
What to do about the hazards Orkney No. 244 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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Orkney No. 244’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- 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 Orkney No. 244 sits in.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Orkney No. 244’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- 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 Orkney No. 244 floods.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Orkney No. 244
Is radon a problem in Orkney No. 244?
In Health Canada’s survey, 25% of 108 homes tested in Orkney No. 244’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
How is Orkney No. 244’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Orkney No. 244’s Hazard risk grade is B−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is Orkney No. 244 at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0.3% of the land within 25 km of Orkney No. 244 has burned since 1986, the last in 2020, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
How big is the earthquake risk in Orkney No. 244?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Orkney No. 244 $0.007 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Does Orkney No. 244 flood?
Orkney No. 244’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
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).