Photo: Masalai at en.wikipedia · Public domainHigh radon around Pilot Butte: 25% of homes tested in the area exceed 200 Bq/m³
Fire has left almost no mark near Pilot Butte: 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. Seismic risk runs low: $0.010 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Hazard risk gives Pilot Butte a grade of C+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Pilot Butte’s hazards
For Pilot Butte, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Pilot Butte faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Pilot Butte: C+
Earthquake risk and radon make Pilot Butte’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
Its place: #71 of 104 in Saskatchewan and #1,816 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
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.
Wildfire is rare near Pilot Butte: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Pilot Butte’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Forty years of fire maps put Pilot Butte at 0.000% a year, low next to the typical Canadian town’s 0.000%.
Land that isn’t forest covers nearly all the ground around Pilot Butte: forest fuel is 0% within 5 km 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 104
To three decimals the burn rate around Pilot Butte is zero, as for 54 of the 104 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.
Only 7.5% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are above the low band, which holds 92%; Pilot Butte, at a rounded zero, is far from them.
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.
2 flood studies cover Pilot Butte, the newest from Water Security Agency
Flood studies whose area touches Pilot Butte, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
For Pilot Butte the inventory points to 2 studies, most recently Water Security Agency’s in 2025.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Regina Flood Mapping Study | Water Security Agency | 2025 | final |
| Regina | Water Security Agency | 2020 | under review · not public |
Towns with a flood study on file
Its flood study sets Pilot Butte apart in Saskatchewan, where 55% of towns have one (Canada: 58%).
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Pilot Butte’s homes stand in a flood zone.
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 Pilot Butte: $0.010 a year per $1,000
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
At $0.010 per $1,000, Pilot Butte carries 0.3 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030): low.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Above the middle in Saskatchewan: Pilot Butte’s $0.010 against a median of $0.006, with Weyburn highest 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.
86% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Pilot Butte.
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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in Pilot Butte is counted; landslides, liquefaction, tsunami and fire after a quake aren’t.
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 Pilot Butte: 25% of tested homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Pilot Butte’s area, at 25%, is above the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town, so testing is worth more here than most places. Nobody publishes radon tests for Pilot Butte alone, so this card uses the figure for the Regina Qu'Appelle RHA.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Pilot Butte than in most towns in Saskatchewan: 25% over the guideline (9.1% is typical), 4.3% over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Few of Canada’s 2,611 towns (3.1%) share the 20–30% band with Pilot Butte, and 1.5% sit above it.
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 Pilot Butte 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 Pilot Butte
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Pilot Butte; 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 Pilot Butte, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Pilot Butte
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pilot Butte | Low | $0.010 | 25% | Yes |
| Edenwold No. 158 4,932 · 4.2 km | Low | $0.011 | 25% | Yes |
| White City 4,379 · 6.3 km | Low | $0.012 | 25% | Yes |
| Dewdney East 18,670 · 9.3 km | Low | $0.014 | 25% | Yes |
| Arcola East 33,823 · 9.7 km | Low | $0.014 | 25% | Yes |
| Sherwood No. 159 1,431 · 9.8 km | Low | $0.012 | 25% | Yes |
| Balgonie 2,020 · 10 km | Low | $0.011 | 25% | None listed |
The fire record around Edenwold No. 158 is a touch heavier than Pilot Butte’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 Pilot Butte faces
Practical steps for Pilot Butte’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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Pilot Butte is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Pilot Butte, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- 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 Pilot Butte.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Pilot Butte’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
Questions about flooding and hazards in Pilot Butte
How big is the earthquake risk in Pilot Butte?
About $0.010 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Pilot Butte.
Is radon a problem in Pilot Butte?
25% of the 94 homes Health Canada tested around Pilot Butte topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
Does Pilot Butte flood?
There is flood mapping for Pilot Butte on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
How is Pilot Butte’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Pilot Butte’s Hazard risk grade is C+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is Pilot Butte at risk of wildfire?
Very little by the national record: Pilot Butte’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
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).