Photo: Stephen Glauser from Calgary, Canada · CC BY-SA 2.0Hazard risk in Brighton is lower than in 91% of Canadian towns
Burn scars are few around Brighton, with 0.5% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.01% a year). Shaking is less of a worry than in most places, at $0.006 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). In Health Canada’s survey, 6.6% of homes tested in Brighton’s area exceeded 200 Bq/m³, close to the typical 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Brighton a grade of A; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Brighton’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Brighton: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Brighton faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Brighton grades A for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Brighton, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
Its place: #9 of 104 in Saskatchewan and #299 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Only 76 homes were tested in the survey area, so the radon share is rough. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Little of the land around Brighton has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0.5% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Brighton’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Next to the typical Canadian town (0.000% a year), Brighton’s 0.01% is in the low band.
No fire has burned within 5 km of Brighton’s homes since 1986; the nearest burn is 22 km away.
With 0% forest fuel within 5 km and 0% within 25 km, the land around Brighton gives a fire little to burn.
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
Brighton sits mid-table in Saskatchewan: 32nd of 104 towns, at 0.01% a year, well behind La Loche (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.
Beside 2,610 Canadian towns, Brighton reads low, with 92% of them; only 7.5% rank 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.
A flood study covers Brighton, from Water Security Agency: 1 on the inventory
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Brighton: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Water Security Agency holds the flood mapping that covers Brighton (2024), linked below.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| City of Saskatoon Flood Mapping Study | Water Security Agency | 2024 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Brighton is one of the 55% of towns in Saskatchewan with a flood study on file, fewer than Canada’s 58%.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Brighton.
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.
Low seismic risk in Brighton: $0.006 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: Brighton’s $0.006 is low for Canada.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
About level with the typical town in Saskatchewan: Brighton’s $0.006 against $0.006; 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 Brighton 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 Brighton’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). · Earthquake risk: one figure for all of the city of Saskatoon
Some radon around Brighton: 6.6% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
At 6.6% over the guideline, the area around Brighton is about level with the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. For radon tests, the only official count covers all of the Saskatoon RHA, Brighton included.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs lower around Brighton 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.
A middling share of high tests puts Brighton with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, below 26% of them.
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 Brighton 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 Brighton
Alerts for Brighton come from Environment and Climate Change Canada and, for emergencies, Alert Ready.
| 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. |
Evacuation orders for Brighton come from the municipality or the province, while CWFIS maps fire danger every day.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Brighton
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brighton | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | Yes |
| University Heights Urban Centre 9,247 · 1.5 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | None listed |
| Willowgrove 9,787 · 2.0 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | None listed |
| Lakewood 14,880 · 2.6 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | None listed |
| Greystone Heights 6,402 · 2.8 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | None listed |
| Hillcrest Management Area 3,004 · 3.0 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | None listed |
| University 5,888 · 3.0 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | Yes |
The fire record around Greystone Heights is a touch heavier than Brighton’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 Brighton faces
What to do about the hazards Brighton 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; Brighton’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Brighton’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Radon is a survey. Radon figures pool the survey’s home tests by area: postal areas once their boundaries arrive, the 2007 health region around Brighton until then.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Brighton without grading them.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Brighton
How big is the earthquake risk in Brighton?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Brighton’s buildings lose $0.006 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Does Brighton flood?
A flood study covers Brighton on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
Is Brighton at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0.5% of the land around Brighton since 1986 (last in 2023); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How is Brighton’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Brighton grades A for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is radon a problem in Brighton?
Around Brighton, 76 survey homes were tested and 6.6% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
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).