Photo: Madereugeneandrew · CC BY-SA 4.0Kingston is on Canada’s flood inventory: 3 listed, led by Province of Nova Scotia
Burn scars are few around Kingston, with 0.1% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.004% a year). Shaking is about as much of a worry in Kingston as in most places, at $0.022 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Radon around Kingston is ordinary for Canada: 5.6% of tested homes over the guideline (6.6% typical). Hazard risk gives Kingston a grade of A−; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Kingston’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Kingston: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Kingston faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Kingston grades A− for hazard risk
Seismic risk and radon set Kingston’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
Its place: #23 of 88 in Nova Scotia and #682 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Wildfire is rare near Kingston: 0.1% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0.1% within 5 km
Past fire around Kingston’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Low by Canadian standards: 0.004% of the land a year around Kingston, 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
There is forest near Kingston’s homes (50% within 5 km) and more of it further out (68% 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 Nova Scotia · highest of 90
Barrington tops the 90 towns in Nova Scotia at 0.46% a year; Kingston, at 0.004%, comes 52nd.
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.
Beside 2,610 Canadian towns, Kingston 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.
Kingston is on the flood map inventory: 3 studies, latest by Province of Nova Scotia
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Kingston: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
For Kingston the inventory points to 3 studies, most recently Province of Nova Scotia’s in 2024.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nova Scotia Flood Mapping Minas Basin Area | Province of Nova Scotia | 2024 | final · not public |
| Fundy Agricultural Marshlands Flood Maps | Nova Scotia Department of Agriculture, Saint Mary’s University | 2018 | final · not public |
| Kings County | Municipality of the County of Kings | 2012 | final · not public |
Towns with a flood study on file
88% of towns in Nova Scotia have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Kingston has one too.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Studies touching Kingston run from the 2010s to the 2020s, with the most in the 2010s: 2 of 3.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Kingston.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Kingston’s homes stand in a flood zone.
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.
Ordinary seismic risk in Kingston: $0.022 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.022 per $1,000, Kingston’s earthquake risk is about the typical Canadian town’s ($0.030; 0.7 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk around Kingston ($0.022) matches the middle in Nova Scotia ($0.018), far from Clare’s $0.034.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Neither high nor low for Canada: 61% of the 2,611 towns expect more damage than Kingston.
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 Kingston’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).
5.6% of homes tested around Kingston are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Measured across the Zone 2 health region: radon tests
Around Kingston, 5.6% of tested homes topped the guideline, near the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Kingston’s area, at 5.6%, is below the median in Nova Scotia (13%), though 2.8% of its tests passed 600 Bq/m³.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Radon tops the guideline in a modest share of homes around Kingston, a band holding 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% 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.
The survey sampled homes around Kingston; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Kingston
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Kingston; 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. |
For fires near Kingston, the national fire information system maps danger and active fires daily; local authorities give any evacuation order.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Kingston
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kingston | Low | $0.022 | 5.6% | Yes |
| Berwick 2,631 · 8.0 km | Low | $0.029 | 5.6% | Yes |
| Annapolis County, Subdivision C 5,694 · 16 km | Moderate | $0.020 | 5.6% | Yes |
The heaviest fire record nearby is Annapolis County, Subdivision C’s, moderate to Kingston’s low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Kingston faces
Practical steps for Kingston’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 Kingston is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Kingston’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- 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 Kingston.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Shaking damage is modelled from the ground, the buildings and the odds of each quake, and published for whole subdivisions such as Kingston’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Kingston
How big is the earthquake risk in Kingston?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Kingston’s buildings lose $0.022 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
How is Kingston’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Kingston’s Hazard risk grade is A−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is radon a problem in Kingston?
The area’s survey found 5.6% of 107 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Kingston.
Does Kingston flood?
There is flood mapping for Kingston on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
Is Kingston at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Kingston’s low band (0.1% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2025) is short of the level that counts.
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).