Photo: Canadian Postcard Company · Public domainAmherstburg is on Canada’s flood inventory: 1 listed, led by Essex Region Conservation Authority / County of Essex
Fire seldom reaches Amherstburg: since 1986, 0.1% of the land within 25 km has burned (0.005% a year). Earthquake risk in Amherstburg is ordinary: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.019 a year per $1,000 of value, close to the typical town’s $0.030. In Health Canada’s survey, 14% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Amherstburg grades C+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Amherstburg’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Amherstburg: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Amherstburg faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Amherstburg grades C+ for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Amherstburg with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #697 of 866 in Ontario and #1,885 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Wildfire is rare near Amherstburg: 0.1% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Amherstburg’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Low: the land around Amherstburg burns at 0.005% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
No fire has burned within 5 km of Amherstburg’s homes since 1986; the nearest burn is 8.9 km away.
Forest fuel is scarce around Amherstburg: 1.1% of the land within 5 km, 0.4% 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
At 0.005% a year, Amherstburg is near the top in Ontario: 43rd of 871, behind Sioux Lookout (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, Amherstburg 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.
A flood study covers Amherstburg, from Essex Region Conservation Authority / County of Essex: 1 on the inventory
Flood studies whose area touches Amherstburg, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
The flood study touching Amherstburg is Essex Region Conservation Authority / County of Essex’s, dated 2024; its own map shows the zones street by street.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essex Region | Essex Region Conservation Authority / County of Essex | 2024 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
69% of towns in Ontario have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Amherstburg has one too.
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 Amherstburg.
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.
Expected shaking damage in Amherstburg: $0.019 a year per $1,000
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Amherstburg’s $0.019 is close to the typical town’s $0.030 (0.6 times as much).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Amherstburg’s $0.019 sits under the median in Ontario, $0.043, and well under Alexandria’s $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 (66%) face more earthquake damage than Amherstburg.
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 Amherstburg’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).
Test for radon in Amherstburg: 14% of area homes were over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Measured across the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit: radon tests
Radon runs above the typical Canadian town (6.6%) in Amherstburg’s area, at 14%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Amherstburg, 14% of tests were over 200 Bq/m³ and 1% over 600, against a median of 4% in Ontario.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
One test in ten or more tops the guideline around Amherstburg, as in 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 4.6% go higher.
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 Amherstburg as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Amherstburg
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Amherstburg; 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 Amherstburg come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Amherstburg’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amherstburg | Low | $0.019 | 14% | Yes |
| LaSalle 36,452 · 14 km | Low | $0.018 | 14% | Yes |
| Essex 23,872 · 16 km | Low | $0.019 | 14% | Yes |
| Roseland 20,587 · 18 km | Low | $0.019 | 14% | Yes |
| South Windsor 15,896 · 18 km | Low | $0.019 | 14% | Yes |
South Windsor burns a little more than Amherstburg, 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 Amherstburg faces
What to do about the hazards Amherstburg 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. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Amherstburg’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Amherstburg without grading them.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Amherstburg’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Radon is a survey. Radon figures pool the survey’s home tests by area: postal areas once their boundaries arrive, the 2007 health region around Amherstburg until then.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Amherstburg
Is Amherstburg at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0.1% of the land within 25 km of Amherstburg has burned since 1986, the last in 2010, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
Does Amherstburg flood?
A flood study covers Amherstburg on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
Is radon a problem in Amherstburg?
In Health Canada’s survey, 14% of 195 homes tested in Amherstburg’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
How is Amherstburg’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Amherstburg grades C+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Amherstburg?
Expected earthquake damage in Amherstburg comes to $0.019 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
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).