Photo: ArmedCalculator · CC BY-SA 4.0Willowgrove faces fewer hazards than 91% of Canadian towns
Wildfire barely registers for Willowgrove, at 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.001% a year). Seismic risk runs low: $0.006 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. In Health Canada’s survey, 6.6% of homes tested in Willowgrove’s area exceeded 200 Bq/m³, close to the typical 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Willowgrove a grade of A; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Willowgrove’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Willowgrove: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Willowgrove faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Willowgrove grades A for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Willowgrove with little fire nearby would get no credit for 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. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Few fires near Willowgrove: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Willowgrove’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
With 0.001% burned a year, Willowgrove is among the many low-band places (the typical Canadian town 0.000%).
No fire has burned within 5 km of Willowgrove’s homes since 1986; the nearest burn is 25 km away.
With 0% forest fuel within 5 km and 0% within 25 km, the land around Willowgrove gives a fire little to burn.
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
At 0.001% a year, Willowgrove ranks 50th of the 104 towns in Saskatchewan; La Loche leads 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.
Low, like 92% of the country’s 2,610 towns: the land around Willowgrove 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.
No flood study is listed for Willowgrove
Flood studies whose area touches Willowgrove, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
No flood study on the national inventory covers Willowgrove; ask the municipality, which is the authority for its flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Saskatchewan reaches 55% of towns, below the 58% across Canada, and not Willowgrove.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood mapping is shown for Willowgrove to be opened and checked, never turned into a grade.
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 Willowgrove just $0.006 per $1,000 a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Willowgrove’s $0.006 is a fraction of the typical town’s $0.030 (0.2 times as much): quiet ground by Canadian standards.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The median in Saskatchewan is $0.006; Willowgrove, 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 Willowgrove 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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Willowgrove’s figure, nor landslides or tsunami: it is buildings and shaking.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean). · Area behind the earthquake risk figures: the city of Saskatoon
6.6% of homes tested around Willowgrove are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Measured across the Saskatoon RHA: radon tests
Willowgrove’s area sits close to the typical Canadian town: 6.6% over the guideline, against 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Fewer homes top the guideline around Willowgrove (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.
A middling share of high tests puts Willowgrove 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.
One home in Willowgrove 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 Willowgrove
Alerts for Willowgrove 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. |
Fire danger and active fires near Willowgrove are mapped daily by the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System; evacuation orders come from the municipality or province.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Willowgrove’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Willowgrove | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | None listed |
| Brighton 7,238 · 2.0 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | Yes |
| University Heights Urban Centre 9,247 · 2.1 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | None listed |
| Evergreen 16,088 · 2.4 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | Yes |
| University 5,888 · 3.4 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | Yes |
| Greystone Heights 6,402 · 4.5 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | None listed |
| Lakewood 14,880 · 4.6 km | Low | $0.006 | 6.6% | None listed |
Greystone Heights burns a little more than Willowgrove, 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 Willowgrove faces
What to do about the hazards Willowgrove 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
- 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 Willowgrove.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Willowgrove’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; Willowgrove’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Willowgrove takes its 2007 health region’s share.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Willowgrove
Does Willowgrove flood?
Nothing is listed for Willowgrove on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
How big is the earthquake risk in Willowgrove?
About $0.006 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Willowgrove.
How is Willowgrove’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Willowgrove grades A for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is radon a problem in Willowgrove?
In Health Canada’s survey, 6.6% of 76 homes tested in Willowgrove’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Is Willowgrove at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0% of the land within 25 km of Willowgrove has burned since 1986, the last in 2023, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
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).