Photo: Drm310 · CC BY-SA 3.0Few places are as safe from hazards as Holliston: it beats 91% of Canadian towns
Little of the land around Holliston has burned: 0.6% within 25 km since 1986, or 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). About as many homes carry radon around Holliston as elsewhere, 6.6% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Holliston a grade of A; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Holliston’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Holliston: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Holliston faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Holliston: A
The grade weighs Holliston’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
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. 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 Holliston has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0.6% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Holliston’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
At 0.02% of the land a year, Holliston’s burn rate is in the low band; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Since 1986 the nearest fire to Holliston’s homes came within 20 km, never inside 5 km.
Little near Holliston’s homes can carry a forest fire; only 0% of the land within 5 km is forest fuel, 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
In the top quarter in Saskatchewan: Holliston ranks 9th of 104 at 0.02% a year, with La Loche first at 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; Holliston 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.
No flood study is listed for Holliston
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Holliston: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
NRCan’s inventory is silent on Holliston, 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 Holliston has none.
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 Holliston’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.”
Low seismic risk in Holliston: $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: Holliston’s $0.006 is low for Canada.
Holliston doesn’t get its own earthquake risk figures; the ones here come from the city of Saskatoon.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk around Holliston ($0.006) matches the middle in Saskatchewan ($0.006), far from Weyburn’s $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.
Toward the quiet end of Canada’s range: 88% of its 2,611 towns sit above Holliston.
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 Holliston’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).
6.6% of homes tested around Holliston are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Measured across the Saskatoon RHA: radon tests
The survey area of Holliston reads 6.6%, a shade from the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Fewer homes top the guideline around Holliston (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.
26% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have more homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Holliston’s 5–10% band, which holds 37%.
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 survey sampled homes around Holliston; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Holliston
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Holliston; 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 Holliston 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 Holliston
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Holliston | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | None listed |
| Brevoort Park 3,485 · 1.0 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | None listed |
| Nutana Park 3,045 · 1.2 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | None listed |
| Nutana Urban Centre 5,926 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | None listed |
| Adelaide/Churchill 2,652 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | None listed |
| Eastview 7,536 · 1.9 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | None listed |
| Haultain 6,126 · 1.9 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | Yes |
Among its neighbours Holliston has the most fire on record (low); Brevoort Park follows (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Holliston faces
What to do about the hazards Holliston 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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Holliston takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Holliston’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Holliston’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 Holliston.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Holliston
How big is the earthquake risk in Holliston?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Holliston $0.006 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
How is Holliston’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Holliston’s Hazard risk grade is A, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Does Holliston flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Holliston’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
Is radon a problem in Holliston?
Around Holliston, 76 survey homes were tested and 6.6% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Is Holliston at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0.6% of the land around Holliston since 1986 (last in 2023); at low, it neither helps nor hurts 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).