Photo: Canadian2006 · CC BY-SA 3.0Hazard risk in Osler is lower than in 96% of Canadian towns
Wildfire isn’t Osler’s worry: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (0.000% 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. Radon around Osler is ordinary for Canada: 6.6% of tested homes over the guideline (6.6% typical). Osler grades A+ for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Osler’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Osler: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Osler faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Osler grades A+ for hazard risk
Seismic risk and radon set Osler’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
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.
Wildfire is rare near Osler: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Osler’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Low by Canadian standards: 0.000% of the land a year around Osler, 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Forest makes up 0% of the land within 5 km of Osler and 0% within 25 km, little for a forest fire to run through.
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 Osler 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.
The low band holds 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, and Osler sits at its very bottom; only 7.5% are 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.
No flood study is listed for Osler
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Osler: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The inventory has nothing for Osler, 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 Osler 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 Osler’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 Osler: $0.005 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Shaking costs the typical town $0.030 a year; in Osler it is only $0.005, 0.2 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Typical for its province: Osler 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.
Osler is among Canada’s quietest towns for earthquakes: 96% of the 2,611 expect more damage.
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 Osler’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).
Radon about average around Osler: 6.6% over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
The survey area of Osler reads 6.6%, a shade from the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. Osler shares its radon tests numbers with the rest of the Saskatoon RHA.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs lower around Osler than in most towns in Saskatchewan: 6.6% against 9.1%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Between 5% and 10% of tests over the guideline: Osler, and 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% are 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.
Basements, soil and how a house is sealed decide its radon, so in Osler only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Osler
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Osler; 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 Osler come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Osler
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Osler | Low | $0.005 | 6.6% | None listed |
| Warman 14,245 · 6.1 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | None listed |
| Martensville 11,808 · 12 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | None listed |
| Rosthern No. 403 2,791 · 14 km | Low | $0.005 | 6.6% | None listed |
| Dalmeny 1,900 · 17 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | None listed |
The fire record around Rosthern No. 403 is a touch heavier than Osler’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 Osler faces
Practical steps for Osler’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
- 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 Osler’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 Osler.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Osler’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. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Osler is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Osler
How is Osler’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Osler’s Hazard risk grade is A+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is radon a problem in Osler?
The area’s survey found 6.6% of 76 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Osler.
Is Osler at risk of wildfire?
Very little by the national record: Osler’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Does Osler flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Osler, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
How big is the earthquake risk in Osler?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Osler’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).