Photo: Tanbir M-05 · CC BY-SA 4.0Mount Royal faces fewer hazards than 91% of Canadian towns
Fire seldom reaches Mount Royal: since 1986, 0.4% of the land within 25 km has burned (0.009% 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. About as many homes carry radon around Mount Royal as elsewhere, 6.6% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Mount Royal a grade of A; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Mount Royal’s hazards
For Mount Royal, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Mount Royal faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Mount Royal: A
Two inputs always count for Mount Royal, 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: 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.
Few fires near Mount Royal: 0% within 5 km, 0.4% within 25 km
Past fire around Mount Royal’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The yearly burn rate around Mount Royal is 0.009%, low beside 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Fire has stayed at least 23 km from Mount Royal’s homes since 1986.
Forest makes up 0.1% of the land within 5 km of Mount Royal and 0% within 25 km, little for a forest fire to run through.
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
Mount Royal burns at 0.009% a year, 33rd of 104 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.
Some fire is mapped around Mount Royal, 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.
No flood study is listed for Mount Royal
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Mount Royal: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists no study whose area touches Mount Royal, which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped.
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 55% of towns in Saskatchewan have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%, and Mount Royal is not among them.
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 Mount Royal.
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.”
Earthquakes cost buildings in Mount Royal just $0.006 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Mount Royal’s $0.006 is a fraction of the typical town’s $0.030 (0.2 times as much): quiet ground by Canadian standards.
Nobody publishes earthquake risk for Mount Royal alone, so this card uses the figure for the city of Saskatoon.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The median in Saskatchewan is $0.006; Mount Royal, at $0.006, is right beside it, and Weyburn tops the list at $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 Mount Royal 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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in Mount Royal is counted; landslides, liquefaction, tsunami and fire after a quake aren’t.
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 Mount Royal are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Near the middle for radon: Mount Royal’s area 6.6%, the typical Canadian town 6.6%. For radon tests, the only official count covers all of the Saskatoon RHA, Mount Royal included.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The median in Saskatchewan is 9.1% over 200 Bq/m³; around Mount Royal it is 6.6%.
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 Mount Royal 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.
Whatever Mount Royal’s area share, the reading that matters is your own home’s, over a winter.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Mount Royal
Alerts for Mount Royal 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 Mount Royal 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)
How Mount Royal’s neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount Royal | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | None listed |
| Westmount 2,872 · 1.1 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | Yes |
| Westview 2,670 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | None listed |
| Caswell Hill 2,573 · 1.4 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | Yes |
| Massey Place 6,561 · 1.5 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | None listed |
| Pleasant Hill 6,088 · 1.5 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | Yes |
| Meadowgreen 3,782 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | None listed |
Meadowgreen burns a little more than Mount Royal, 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 Mount Royal faces
What to do about the hazards Mount Royal 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
- Wildfire counts one way. For Mount Royal, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Mount Royal is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Mount Royal’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- 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 Mount Royal.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Mount Royal
Is radon a problem in Mount Royal?
In Health Canada’s survey, 6.6% of 76 homes tested in Mount Royal’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Does Mount Royal flood?
Nothing is listed for Mount Royal on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
How is Mount Royal’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Mount Royal grades A for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is Mount Royal at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0.4% of the land within 25 km of Mount Royal has burned since 1986, the last in 2023, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
How big is the earthquake risk in Mount Royal?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Mount Royal $0.006 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
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).