Photo: SriMesh · CC BY-SA 3.0Hazard risk in Greystone Heights is lower than in 91% of Canadian towns
Burn scars are few around Greystone Heights, with 0.6% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.02% 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 Greystone Heights’ area exceeded 200 Bq/m³, close to the typical 6.6%. Greystone Heights grades A for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Greystone Heights’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Greystone Heights: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Greystone Heights faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Greystone Heights grades A for hazard risk
Earthquake risk and radon make Greystone Heights’ grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
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. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Few fires near Greystone Heights: 0% within 5 km, 0.6% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Greystone Heights’ residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
With 0.02% burned a year, Greystone Heights is among the many low-band places (the typical Canadian town 0.000%).
Nothing inside 5 km of Greystone Heights’ homes has burned since 1986, and the nearest scar is 22 km off.
Forest fuel is scarce around Greystone Heights: 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
Greystone Heights ranks 9th of the 104 towns in Saskatchewan for burn rate, at 0.02% a year; La Loche leads with 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.
Low, like 92% of the country’s 2,610 towns: the land around Greystone Heights burns, but slower than in the 7.5% 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 Greystone Heights
Flood studies whose area touches Greystone Heights, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
NRCan’s inventory is silent on Greystone Heights, so any flood map would be the municipality’s own.
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Saskatchewan, 55% of towns against 58% nationally, and Greystone Heights has none.
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 Greystone Heights’ 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 Greystone Heights: $0.006 per $1,000 of buildings a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Shaking costs the typical town $0.030 a year; in Greystone Heights it is only $0.006, 0.2 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Shaking damage around Greystone Heights runs at $0.006 a year, near the $0.006 of the typical town in Saskatchewan; Weyburn has $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.
88% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Greystone Heights.
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 Greystone Heights’ 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: the city of Saskatoon
6.6% of homes tested around Greystone Heights are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Around Greystone Heights, 6.6% of tested homes topped the guideline, near the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. For radon tests, the only official count covers all of the Saskatoon RHA, Greystone Heights included.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Fewer homes top the guideline around Greystone Heights (6.6%) than in the typical town in Saskatchewan (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: Greystone Heights, 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.
The share describes the area, not a house: in Greystone Heights as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Greystone Heights
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Greystone Heights; 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 Greystone Heights, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Greystone Heights
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greystone Heights | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | None listed |
| Lakewood 14,880 · 1.6 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | None listed |
| Brevoort Park 3,485 · 1.6 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | None listed |
| Nutana Urban Centre 5,926 · 2.1 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | None listed |
| University 5,888 · 2.4 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | Yes |
| Holliston 2,963 · 2.5 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | None listed |
| University Heights Urban Centre 9,247 · 2.6 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | None listed |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Greystone Heights (low); Brevoort Park comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Greystone Heights faces
Practical steps for Greystone Heights’ 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 Greystone Heights’.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Greystone Heights’ 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 Greystone Heights is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- 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 Greystone Heights.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Greystone Heights
How big is the earthquake risk in Greystone Heights?
About $0.006 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Greystone Heights.
Is radon a problem in Greystone Heights?
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 Greystone Heights.
Does Greystone Heights flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Greystone Heights, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
Is Greystone Heights at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Greystone Heights’ low band (0.6% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2023) is short of the level that counts.
How is Greystone Heights’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Greystone Heights A, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
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).