Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.026% of homes tested in Swift Current’s area are above the radon guideline
Since 1986 almost nothing has burned near Swift Current: 0% of the land within 25 km, or 0.000% a year. Shaking is less of a worry than in most places, at $0.005 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Hazard risk gives Swift Current a grade of B, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Swift Current’s hazards
For Swift Current, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Swift Current faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Swift Current: B
The grade weighs Swift Current’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: #63 of 104 in Saskatchewan and #1,558 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Little of the land around Swift Current has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Swift Current’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Swift Current burns at 0.000% a year, low against 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Forest makes up 0% of the land within 5 km of Swift Current 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
Near-zero burning puts Swift Current with 54 of the 104 towns in Saskatchewan, far below La Loche 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.
92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are in the low band and 7.5% above it; Swift Current is among the many where the yearly burn rate rounds to zero.
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.
Saskatchewan Water Corporation, Water Security Agency has mapped flooding for Swift Current (1 study)
Flood studies whose area touches Swift Current, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
For Swift Current the inventory points to Saskatchewan Water Corporation, Water Security Agency’s 1981 study, whose map is the one to check.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| City of Swift Current | Saskatchewan Water Corporation, Water Security Agency | 1981 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Saskatchewan, 55% of towns against 58% nationally, but Swift Current has one.
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 Swift Current.
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 Swift Current: $0.005 per $1,000 of buildings a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Swift Current’s $0.005 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
Shaking damage around Swift Current runs at $0.005 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.
Nearly every one of Canada’s 2,611 towns (96%) expects more shaking damage than Swift Current.
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 Swift Current 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).
Test for radon in Swift Current: 26% of area homes were over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
More homes than usual test high around Swift Current: 26% against 6.6% for the typical Canadian town. Swift Current shares its radon tests numbers with the rest of the Cypress RHA.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Swift Current than in most towns in Saskatchewan: 26% over the guideline (9.1% is typical), 1.9% over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
One home in five or more tests over the guideline around Swift Current; 3.1% of Canada’s 2,611 towns are in that band and 1.5% 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.
Whatever Swift Current’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 Swift Current
Alerts for Swift Current 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 Swift Current 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)
Hazards in the places around Swift Current
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Swift Current | Low | $0.005 | 26% | Yes |
| Swift Current No. 137 2,089 · 8.6 km | Low | $0.005 | 26% | Yes |
Nowhere around Swift Current burns more: Swift Current No. 137, the closest rival, is low to its low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Swift Current faces
What to do about the hazards Swift Current 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
- 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 Swift Current.
- 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 Swift Current.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Swift Current’s included.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Swift Current takes its 2007 health region’s share.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Swift Current
Is Swift Current at risk of wildfire?
No meaningful wildfire history near Swift Current: 0% of nearby land since 1986, band low.
Does Swift Current flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Swift Current; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
Is radon a problem in Swift Current?
In Health Canada’s survey, 26% of 106 homes tested in Swift Current’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
How is Swift Current’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Swift Current’s Hazard risk grade is B, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
How big is the earthquake risk in Swift Current?
Expected earthquake damage in Swift Current comes to $0.005 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
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).