Photo: Royalbroil · CC BY-SA 4.0Hazard risk in Almonte is higher than in 93% of Canadian towns
Wildfire is rare near Almonte: 0.1% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, a burn rate of 0.002% a year. Shaking is a bigger worry than in most places, at $0.11 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Radon is higher than usual: 19% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Almonte grades D for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Almonte’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Almonte: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Almonte faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Almonte grades D for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Almonte, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
Its place: #861 of 866 in Ontario and #2,504 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.
Little of the land around Almonte has burned: 0.3% within 5 km, 0.1% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Almonte’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
A burn rate of 0.002% a year keeps Almonte in the low band (the typical Canadian town: 0.000%).
There is forest near Almonte’s homes (16% within 5 km) and more of it further out (23% 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 Ontario · highest of 871
Almonte ranks 54th of the 871 towns in Ontario for burn rate, at 0.002% a year; Sioux Lookout leads with 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.
Beside 2,610 Canadian towns, Almonte 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.
Mississippi Valley Conservation Authority has mapped flooding for Almonte (1 study)
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Almonte: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
One study on the inventory touches Almonte, Mississippi Valley Conservation Authority’s from 2019, and its area can be large, so it says a map exists, not that the town floods.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lower Mississippi River Flood Plain Mapping Study | Mississippi Valley Conservation Authority | 2019 | final · not public |
Towns with a flood study on file
69% of towns in Ontario have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Almonte has one too.
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 Almonte’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.
Shaking is Almonte’s costliest hazard: $0.11 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
The typical town loses $0.030 a year to shaking; Almonte loses $0.11, 3.6 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Above the middle in Ontario: Almonte’s $0.11 against a median of $0.043, with Alexandria highest at $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.
In the upper part of Canada’s range: 25% of its 2,611 towns expect more damage than Almonte.
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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Almonte’s figure, nor landslides or tsunami: it is buildings and shaking.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
19% of homes tested around Almonte are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Almonte’s survey area reads 19% over the guideline, well past the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. Almonte shares its radon tests numbers with the rest of the Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Almonte than in most towns in Ontario: 19% over the guideline (4% 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.
4.6% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have a higher share of homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Almonte, 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.
The share describes the area, not a house: in Almonte as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Almonte
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Almonte; 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 Almonte, 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 Almonte
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Almonte | Low | $0.11 | 19% | Yes |
| Corkery 3,822 · 10 km | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | Yes |
| Carleton Place 14,837 · 11 km | Low | $0.12 | 19% | Yes |
| Beckwith 10,073 · 15 km | Low | $0.11 | 19% | Yes |
| Kinburn 2,639 · 17 km | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | Yes |
| Carp 5,621 · 19 km | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | None listed |
Almonte’s low band tops its neighbours; Corkery is next (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Almonte faces
What to do about the hazards Almonte 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.
- Drop, cover and hold on.
- Strap the water heater down.
- Keep 72 hours of supplies.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
- Is earthquake cover included?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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 Almonte.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Almonte 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 Almonte’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 Almonte’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Almonte
Is radon a problem in Almonte?
Around Almonte, 108 survey homes were tested and 19% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Is Almonte at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0.1% of the land around Almonte since 1986 (last in 2020); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Almonte?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Almonte $0.11 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
How is Almonte’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Almonte D, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Does Almonte flood?
There is flood mapping for Almonte on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
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).