Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0Hazard risk in Adelaide-Metcalfe is lower than in 92% of Canadian towns
The burned-area map is nearly blank around Adelaide-Metcalfe, 0% within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. For earthquakes Adelaide-Metcalfe is middling, $0.018 a year per $1,000 against $0.030 for the typical town. Fewer homes than usual carry radon here, 1.8% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Adelaide-Metcalfe grades A for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Adelaide-Metcalfe’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Adelaide-Metcalfe: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Adelaide-Metcalfe faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Adelaide-Metcalfe: A
The grade weighs Adelaide-Metcalfe’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: #33 of 866 in Ontario and #285 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 Adelaide-Metcalfe: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Adelaide-Metcalfe’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The land within 25 km of Adelaide-Metcalfe burns at 0.000% a year on average, the low band; the typical Canadian town: 0.000%.
With 0.1% forest fuel within 5 km and 0.3% within 25 km, the land around Adelaide-Metcalfe 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 Ontario · highest of 871
Fire has taken almost none of the land around Adelaide-Metcalfe, as for 638 of the 871 towns in Ontario; Sioux Lookout tops the list 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.
The low band holds 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, and Adelaide-Metcalfe sits at its very bottom; only 7.5% are 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.
A flood study covers Adelaide-Metcalfe, from St. Clair Region Conservation Authority: 1 on the inventory
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Adelaide-Metcalfe: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
A 2009 study by St. Clair Region Conservation Authority covers Adelaide-Metcalfe, and its map, not the inventory, shows the zones.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| SCRCA Floodplain Estimation Study for Ontario Regulation 171-06 | St. Clair Region Conservation Authority | 2009 | final · not public |
Towns with a flood study on file
Its flood study puts Adelaide-Metcalfe with 69% of towns in Ontario; Canada’s share is 58%.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Adelaide-Metcalfe’s homes are at risk.
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 Adelaide-Metcalfe: $0.018 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Adelaide-Metcalfe’s $0.018 is close to the typical town’s $0.030 (0.6 times as much).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Ontario expects $0.043 a year in shaking damage; Adelaide-Metcalfe expects less, $0.018, and Alexandria the most, $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.
Most of Canada’s 2,611 towns (68%) face more earthquake damage than Adelaide-Metcalfe.
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 Adelaide-Metcalfe’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).
Radon runs low around Adelaide-Metcalfe: 1.8% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Measured across the Middlesex-London Health Unit: radon tests
Adelaide-Metcalfe’s survey area reads 1.8% over the guideline, under the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Fewer homes top the guideline around Adelaide-Metcalfe (1.8%) than in the typical town in Ontario (4%).
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Adelaide-Metcalfe is in the lowest band, with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns: under 5% of tests over the guideline, while 63% have more.
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 Adelaide-Metcalfe 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 Adelaide-Metcalfe
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Adelaide-Metcalfe; 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. |
Smoke and fire warnings for Adelaide-Metcalfe come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Adelaide-Metcalfe
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
Watford burns a little more than Adelaide-Metcalfe, 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 Adelaide-Metcalfe faces
What to do about the hazards Adelaide-Metcalfe 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. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Adelaide-Metcalfe’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- 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 Adelaide-Metcalfe’s.
- 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 Adelaide-Metcalfe.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Adelaide-Metcalfe takes its 2007 health region’s share.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Adelaide-Metcalfe
How big is the earthquake risk in Adelaide-Metcalfe?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Adelaide-Metcalfe’s buildings lose $0.018 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is Adelaide-Metcalfe at risk of wildfire?
No meaningful wildfire history near Adelaide-Metcalfe: 0% of nearby land since 1986, band low.
How is Adelaide-Metcalfe’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Adelaide-Metcalfe grades A for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is radon a problem in Adelaide-Metcalfe?
Around Adelaide-Metcalfe, 110 survey homes were tested and 1.8% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Does Adelaide-Metcalfe flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Adelaide-Metcalfe; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the 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).