Photo: Louis White · CC BY-SA 2.0Flood mapping exists for Saskatoon: 1 on record, latest by Water Security Agency
Fire seldom reaches Saskatoon: since 1986, 0.4% of the land within 25 km has burned (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 Saskatoon’s area exceeded 200 Bq/m³, close to the typical 6.6%.
What stands out about Saskatoon’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Saskatoon: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Saskatoon faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Saskatoon isn’t graded for hazard risk yet
The grade weighs Saskatoon’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
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.
Little of the land around Saskatoon has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0.4% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Saskatoon’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Saskatoon burns at 0.01% a year, low against 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Nothing inside 5 km of Saskatoon’s homes has burned since 1986, and the nearest scar is 18 km off.
Land that isn’t forest covers nearly all the ground around Saskatoon: 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 105
Saskatoon burns at 0.01% a year, 33rd of 105 towns in Saskatchewan; the leader, 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.
7.5% of Canada’s 2,610 towns burn fast enough to rank moderate or above; Saskatoon stays low, with 92%.
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 Saskatoon, from Water Security Agency: 1 on the inventory
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Saskatoon: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
One study on the inventory touches Saskatoon, Water Security Agency’s from 2024, and its area can be large, so it says a map exists, not that the town floods.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| City of Saskatoon Flood Mapping Study | Water Security Agency | 2024 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Its flood study sets Saskatoon 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.
Nothing here counts toward Risk; the studies are pointers to the maps their owners keep for Saskatoon.
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.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Saskatoon just $0.006 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
0.2 times the typical $0.030: Saskatoon’s $0.006 is low for Canada.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Shaking damage around Saskatoon 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.
Saskatoon is in the lower part of Canada’s range for earthquake risk; 88% of the 2,611 towns are higher.
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 Saskatoon’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).
Some radon around Saskatoon: 6.6% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Around Saskatoon, 6.6% of tested homes topped the guideline, near the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs lower around Saskatoon 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 Saskatoon 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.
A survey sample isn’t a map: any home in Saskatoon can be high, and a three-month test is the only way to know.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Data for radon tests covers the Saskatoon RHA
Weather and fire alerts for Saskatoon
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Saskatoon; 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 Saskatoon 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 Saskatoon
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saskatoon | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | Yes |
| Grosvenor Park 6,240 · 0.4 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | Yes |
| Central Business District 4,987 · 1.1 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | Yes |
| City Park 3,827 · 1.4 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | Yes |
| Haultain 6,126 · 1.5 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | Yes |
| Buena Vista 5,777 · 2.2 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | Yes |
| Holliston 2,963 · 2.6 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | None listed |
Grosvenor Park burns a little more than Saskatoon, in the same low band (low here).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Saskatoon faces
What to do about the hazards Saskatoon 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
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Saskatoon’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. The flood inventory points to maps; it is incomplete and not the official source, so ask the municipality about any street in Saskatoon.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Saskatoon takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Saskatoon’s figure is its subdivision’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Saskatoon
Is radon a problem in Saskatoon?
Around Saskatoon, 76 survey homes were tested and 6.6% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How big is the earthquake risk in Saskatoon?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Saskatoon $0.006 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is Saskatoon at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0.4% of the land around Saskatoon since 1986 (last in 2023); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How is Saskatoon’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
No letter so far; once Canada is graded, Saskatoon’s Risk will rest on earthquakes and radon, plus wildfire where it counts against it.
Does Saskatoon flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Saskatoon; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the 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).