Photo: Tanbir M-05 · CC BY-SA 4.0Hazard risk in Westmount is lower than in 91% of Canadian towns
Fire seldom reaches Westmount: since 1986, 0.5% of the land within 25 km has burned (0.01% a year). Seismic risk runs low: $0.006 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Westmount’s survey area, 6.6% over the radon guideline, is close to the typical town’s 6.6%. Westmount grades A for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Westmount’s hazards
For Westmount, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Westmount faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Westmount grades A for hazard risk
Seismic risk and radon set Westmount’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
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.
Little of the land around Westmount has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0.5% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Westmount’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The yearly burn rate around Westmount is 0.01%, low beside 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Fire has stayed at least 22 km from Westmount’s homes since 1986.
Little near Westmount’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
Westmount burns at 0.01% a year, 31st 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.
Low, like 92% of the country’s 2,610 towns: the land around Westmount 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.
Westmount is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Water Security Agency
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Westmount: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
One study on the inventory touches Westmount, 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
Mapping in Saskatchewan reaches 55% of towns, Westmount 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.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Westmount’s 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.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
Low seismic risk in Westmount: $0.006 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Shaking costs the typical town $0.030 a year; in Westmount it is only $0.006, 0.2 times as much.
Westmount 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
Shaking damage around Westmount 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 Westmount.
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).
For Westmount the model prices shaking damage to buildings, nothing more.
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 Westmount 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
Around Westmount, 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
Westmount’s area, at 6.6%, is below the median in Saskatchewan (9.1%).
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns share Westmount’s band of 5 to 10%; 26% sit 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.
Neighbouring homes in Westmount can differ a lot; only a long-term test tells you about yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Westmount
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Westmount; 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 Westmount come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Westmount’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Westmount | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | Yes |
| Pleasant Hill 6,088 · 0.8 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | Yes |
| Caswell Hill 2,573 · 1.0 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | Yes |
| Mount Royal 5,292 · 1.1 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | None listed |
| Meadowgreen 3,782 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | None listed |
| Mayfair 2,927 · 1.9 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | None listed |
| Central Business District 4,987 · 2.0 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | Yes |
Meadowgreen burns a little more than Westmount, 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 Westmount faces
Practical steps for Westmount’s 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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Westmount is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Westmount’s included.
- Wildfire counts one way. Burned land within 25 km of where people live, averaged over 1986–2025 and checked for fuel near homes, is the measure; it looks back, not ahead, and only ever counts against Westmount.
- 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 Westmount.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Westmount
Is radon a problem in Westmount?
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 Westmount.
How big is the earthquake risk in Westmount?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Westmount $0.006 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Does Westmount flood?
There is flood mapping for Westmount on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
Is Westmount at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Westmount’s low band (0.5% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2023) is short of the level that counts.
How is Westmount’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Westmount’s Hazard risk grade is A, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
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).