Photo: SriMesh · CC BY-SA 3.0Buena Vista faces fewer hazards than 91% of Canadian towns
Little of the land around Buena Vista has burned: 0.6% within 25 km since 1986, or 0.02% a year. Earthquakes matter little: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.006 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Radon around Buena Vista is ordinary for Canada: 6.6% of tested homes over the guideline (6.6% typical). Hazard risk gives Buena Vista a grade of A; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Buena Vista’s hazards
For Buena Vista, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Buena Vista faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Buena Vista grades A for hazard risk
Seismic risk and radon set Buena Vista’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
Its place: #9 of 104 in Saskatchewan and #299 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Only 76 homes were tested in the survey area, so the radon share is rough. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Little of the land around Buena Vista has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0.6% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Buena Vista’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Buena Vista burns at 0.02% a year, low against 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Fire has stayed at least 20 km from Buena Vista’s homes since 1986.
Forest fuel is scarce around Buena Vista: 0% of the land within 5 km, 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
At 0.02% a year, Buena Vista is near the top in Saskatchewan: 9th of 104, 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.
Some fire is mapped around Buena Vista, but not enough to leave the low band, where 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are; 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.
Buena Vista is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Water Security Agency
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Buena Vista: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
For Buena Vista the inventory points to Water Security Agency’s 2024 study, whose map is the one to check.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| City of Saskatoon Flood Mapping Study | Water Security Agency | 2024 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 55% of towns in Saskatchewan have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%; Buena Vista 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 is shown for Buena Vista to be opened and checked, never turned into a grade.
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 Buena Vista: $0.006 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.006 per $1,000, Buena Vista carries 0.2 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030): low.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
About level with the typical town in Saskatchewan: Buena Vista’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 Buena Vista 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).
For Buena Vista the model prices shaking damage to buildings, nothing more.
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
6.6% of homes tested around Buena Vista are over the radon 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 Buena Vista is about level with the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. For radon tests, the only official count covers all of the Saskatoon RHA, Buena Vista included.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs lower around Buena Vista 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.
Radon tops the guideline in a modest share of homes around Buena Vista, a band holding 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% rank above.
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.
A low area share in Buena Vista doesn’t clear a house, nor does a high one condemn it: test.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Buena Vista
Alerts for Buena Vista 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 Buena Vista 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 Buena Vista
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buena Vista | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | Yes |
| Haultain 6,126 · 1.0 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | Yes |
| Avalon 9,488 · 1.6 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | Yes |
| Central Business District 4,987 · 2.0 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | Yes |
| Grosvenor Park 6,240 · 2.2 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | Yes |
| Pleasant Hill 6,088 · 2.4 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | Yes |
| Adelaide/Churchill 2,652 · 2.4 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | None listed |
Among its neighbours Buena Vista has the most fire on record (low); Haultain follows (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Buena Vista faces
Practical steps for Buena Vista’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 Buena Vista is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Buena Vista’s included.
- Wildfire counts one way. Burned land within 25 km of where people live, averaged over 1986–2025 and checked for fuel near homes, is the measure; it looks back, not ahead, and only ever counts against Buena Vista.
- 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 Buena Vista.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Buena Vista
Is Buena Vista at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Buena Vista’s band is low, with 0.6% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2023), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Does Buena Vista flood?
There is flood mapping for Buena Vista on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
How is Buena Vista’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Buena Vista’s Hazard risk grade is A, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
How big is the earthquake risk in Buena Vista?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Buena Vista’s buildings lose $0.006 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is radon a problem in Buena Vista?
6.6% of the 76 homes Health Canada tested around Buena Vista topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
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).