Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0Wildfire low, radon 11%: how Addington Highlands stands on hazards
Around Addington Highlands, wildfire is practically absent from the record: 0% within 25 km since 1986, 0.001% a year. Seismic risk in Addington Highlands sits near the middle: $0.037 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Addington Highlands grades C+ for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Addington Highlands’s hazards
For Addington Highlands, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Addington Highlands faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Addington Highlands grades C+ for hazard risk
Earthquake risk and radon make Addington Highlands’ grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
Its place: #813 of 866 in Ontario and #2,005 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.
Few fires near Addington Highlands: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Past fire around Addington Highlands’ homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Forty years of fire maps put Addington Highlands at 0.001% a year, low next to the typical Canadian town’s 0.000%.
Nothing inside 5 km of Addington Highlands’ homes has burned since 1986, and the nearest scar is 5.8 km off.
About as much forest grows next to Addington Highlands’ homes (28% within 5 km) as across 25 km (29%).
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 Ontario · highest of 871
In the top quarter in Ontario: Addington Highlands ranks 83rd of 871 at 0.001% a year, with Sioux Lookout first at 0.16%.
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.
Some fire is mapped around Addington Highlands, but not enough to leave the low band, where 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are; 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 Addington Highlands
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Addington Highlands: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The inventory has nothing for Addington Highlands, but a local or conservation-authority map may still exist.
Towns with a flood study on file
Missing from a well-mapped province: Addington Highlands has no study, where 69% of towns in Ontario have one against 58% nationally.
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 Addington Highlands 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.”
Expected shaking damage in Addington Highlands: $0.037 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Earthquake losses in Addington Highlands, $0.037 per $1,000, are in line with the typical $0.030 (1.2 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
About level with the typical town in Ontario: Addington Highlands’ $0.037 against $0.043; Alexandria reaches $0.21.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Addington Highlands’ earthquake risk lands near the centre of Canada’s range; 45% of the 2,611 towns are higher.
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 Addington Highlands 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 Addington Highlands: 11% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Shared with the rest of the Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox and Addington Health Unit: radon tests
At 11% over the guideline, the area around Addington Highlands beats the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Addington Highlands’ area, at 11%, is above the median in Ontario (4%), and 1% 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.
4.6% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have a higher share of homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Addington Highlands, in the 10–20% band with 22%.
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 Addington Highlands 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 Addington Highlands
Alerts for Addington Highlands 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 Addington Highlands 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 Addington Highlands
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Addington Highlands | Low | $0.037 | 11% | None listed |
| North Frontenac 2,515 · 14 km | Low | $0.043 | 11% | None listed |
Fire is no heavier anywhere nearby than around Addington Highlands (low), with North Frontenac next at low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Addington Highlands faces
Practical steps for Addington Highlands’ 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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Wildfire counts one way. For Addington Highlands, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- 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 Addington Highlands.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Addington Highlands is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Addington Highlands’ census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
Questions about flooding and hazards in Addington Highlands
How is Addington Highlands’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Addington Highlands C+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
How big is the earthquake risk in Addington Highlands?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Addington Highlands’ buildings lose $0.037 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Does Addington Highlands flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Addington Highlands (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
Is radon a problem in Addington Highlands?
11% of the 99 homes Health Canada tested around Addington Highlands topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
Is Addington Highlands at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Addington Highlands’ band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2025), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
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).