Photo: C Robson · CC BY-SA 3.0Whitehorse faces more hazards than 93% of Canadian towns
Wildfire is rare near Whitehorse: 0.5% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, a burn rate of 0.01% a year. Shaking is a bigger worry than in most places, at $0.10 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). In Health Canada’s survey, 20% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Whitehorse grades D for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Whitehorse’s hazards
For Whitehorse, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Whitehorse faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Whitehorse: D
Earthquake risk and radon make Whitehorse’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
Its place: #2,507 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 Whitehorse has burned: 1.8% within 5 km, 0.5% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Whitehorse’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Low by Canadian standards: 0.01% of the land a year around Whitehorse, 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
The ring nearest Whitehorse is the most wooded: 89% forest fuel within 5 km against 75% 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).
Beside 2,610 Canadian towns, Whitehorse reads low, with 92% of them; only 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 Whitehorse
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Whitehorse: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
No flood study on the national inventory covers Whitehorse; ask the municipality, which is the authority for its flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Whitehorse has no flood study on file; 58% of Canada’s towns have one.
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 Whitehorse.
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.”
High seismic risk in Whitehorse: $0.10 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Whitehorse’s $0.10 is about 3.4 times the typical town’s $0.030: it sits in one of Canada’s more active seismic zones.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Whitehorse’s $0.10 is measured against Canada’s median of $0.030, since few towns in Yukon reach 2,500 people.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
25% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Whitehorse, which places it in the upper third.
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 Whitehorse 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).
Radon runs high around Whitehorse: 20% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
At 20% over the guideline, the area around Whitehorse beats the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
With only a few towns in Yukon, there is no local median for Whitehorse; its area had 5.8% of tests over 600 Bq/m³.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
The 10–20% band holds 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, Whitehorse among them; 4.6% rank above.
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 Whitehorse 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). · Not measured by town: radon tests (the Yukon Territory health region)
Where to get warnings in Whitehorse
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Whitehorse; 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 Whitehorse, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Get ready for what Whitehorse faces
Practical steps for Whitehorse’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.
- Drop, cover and hold on.
- Strap the water heater down.
- Keep 72 hours of supplies.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
- Is earthquake cover included?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Whitehorse’s included.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Whitehorse takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- 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 Whitehorse.
- 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 Whitehorse.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Whitehorse
Does Whitehorse flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Whitehorse (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
How big is the earthquake risk in Whitehorse?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Whitehorse’s buildings lose $0.10 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is Whitehorse at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Whitehorse’s band is low, with 0.5% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2024), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Is radon a problem in Whitehorse?
20% of the 225 homes Health Canada tested around Whitehorse topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How is Whitehorse’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Whitehorse’s Hazard risk grade is D, 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).