Photo: SriMesh · CC BY-SA 3.0Hazard risk in North Park is lower than in 91% of Canadian towns
Burn scars are few around North Park, with 0.1% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.002% 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 is about average around North Park: 6.6% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Hazard risk gives North Park a grade of A; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about North Park’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for North Park: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What North Park faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
North Park grades A for hazard risk
The grade weighs North Park’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.
Wildfire is rare near North Park: 0.1% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around North Park’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
North Park burns at 0.002% a year, low against 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Fire has stayed at least 24 km from North Park’s homes since 1986.
Forest fuel is scarce around North Park: 0.1% 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
North Park sits mid-table in Saskatchewan: 46th of 104 towns, at 0.002% a year, well 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.
North Park is in the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns; 7.5% sit in moderate or 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.
Water Security Agency has mapped flooding for North Park (1 study)
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for North Park: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The flood study touching North Park is Water Security Agency’s, dated 2024; its own map shows the zones street by street.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| City of Saskatoon Flood Mapping Study | Water Security Agency | 2024 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Saskatchewan reaches 55% of towns, North Park among them, below the 58% across Canada.
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 North Park.
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.
Little shaking expected in North Park: $0.006 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
0.2 times the typical $0.030: North Park’s $0.006 is low for Canada.
For earthquake risk, the only official count covers all of the city of Saskatoon, North Park included.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The median in Saskatchewan is $0.006; North Park, 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.
Toward the quiet end of Canada’s range: 88% of its 2,611 towns sit above North Park.
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 North Park’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 North Park: 6.6% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Near the middle for radon: North Park’s area 6.6%, the typical Canadian town 6.6%. Nobody publishes radon tests for North Park alone, so this card uses the figure for the Saskatoon RHA.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The median in Saskatchewan is 9.1% over 200 Bq/m³; around North Park it is 6.6%.
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 North Park’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.
One home in North Park can be high while next door is low; a three-month test settles it.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for North Park
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for North Park; 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 North Park, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How North Park’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| North Park | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | Yes |
| City Park 3,827 · 1.6 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | Yes |
| Lawson Heights 8,158 · 1.9 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | Yes |
| Mayfair 2,927 · 2.0 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | None listed |
| Central Business District 4,987 · 2.6 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | Yes |
| Lawson Heights Urban Centre 3,622 · 2.6 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | Yes |
| Caswell Hill 2,573 · 2.7 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | Yes |
The fire record around Central Business District is a touch heavier than North Park’s, but the band is the same: low (here low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what North Park faces
What to do about the hazards North Park 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
- 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 North Park.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for North Park is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around North Park’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; North Park’s figure is its subdivision’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in North Park
Does North Park flood?
There is flood mapping for North Park on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
How big is the earthquake risk in North Park?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in North Park $0.006 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
How is North Park’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
North Park grades A for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is North Park at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0.1% of the land around North Park since 1986 (last in 2023); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
Is radon a problem in North Park?
Around North Park, 76 survey homes were tested and 6.6% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
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).