Photo: P199 · Public domainHazards in Armstrong: wildfire low, radon over the guideline in 7.8% of tested homes
The national fire record shows next to nothing around Armstrong, 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). Shaking is about as much of a worry in Armstrong as in most places, at $0.038 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Hazard risk gives Armstrong a grade of B, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Armstrong’s hazards
For Armstrong, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Armstrong faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Armstrong grades B for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Armstrong, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Few fires near Armstrong: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Armstrong’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
With 0.000% burned a year, Armstrong is among the many low-band places (the typical Canadian town 0.000%).
Close to Armstrong there is little to burn (2.4% forest fuel within 5 km), but 31% of the land within 25 km is forest.
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 872
Among the 872 towns in Ontario, Sioux Lookout burns fastest (0.16% a year); Armstrong is with the 639 near zero.
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.
Measured against 2,610 towns, Armstrong is in the largest group, low (92%), and at its floor, while 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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Armstrong
Flood studies whose area touches Armstrong, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
An empty entry for Armstrong on the inventory isn’t proof of safety; ask locally for flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Missing from a well-mapped province: Armstrong 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.
Nothing here counts toward Risk; the studies are pointers to the maps their owners keep for Armstrong.
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 Armstrong: $0.038 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.
1.3 times the typical $0.030: Armstrong’s $0.038 is ordinary.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Armstrong’s $0.038 is close to the median in Ontario, $0.043; Alexandria is 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.
Middle of the pack: 45% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have more earthquake risk than Armstrong.
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).
What a quake does after the shaking, fire, landslides, tsunami, falls outside NRCan’s figure for Armstrong.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
7.8% of homes tested around Armstrong are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
The survey area of Armstrong reads 7.8%, a shade from the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. Armstrong doesn’t get its own radon tests figures; the ones here come from the Timiskaming Health Unit.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Armstrong than in most towns in Ontario: 7.8% over the guideline (4% is typical), 1% over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
A middling share of high tests puts Armstrong with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, below 26% of them.
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 Armstrong 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 Armstrong
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Armstrong; 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. |
In fire season, check CWFIS for danger and active fires around Armstrong, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Armstrong’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Armstrong | Low | $0.038 | 7.8% | None listed |
| Englehart 1,559 · 13 km | Low | $0.043 | 7.8% | None listed |
Englehart burns a little more than Armstrong, 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 Armstrong faces
What to do about the hazards Armstrong 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?
- 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 Armstrong, 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. A study’s area can be a whole watershed or province, so being on the inventory says a map exists, not that a home in Armstrong floods.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Armstrong’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Radon is a survey. The radon share comes from about 14,000 long-term home tests in 2009–2011, pooled for now by the 2007 health region Armstrong sits in.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Armstrong
Is radon a problem in Armstrong?
In Health Canada’s survey, 7.8% of 103 homes tested in Armstrong’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Is Armstrong at risk of wildfire?
Hardly at all on record: 0% of the land within 25 km of Armstrong since 1986, a low band, though small grass fires aren’t mapped.
Does Armstrong flood?
Nothing is listed for Armstrong on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
How is Armstrong’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Armstrong’s Hazard risk grade is B, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
How big is the earthquake risk in Armstrong?
Expected earthquake damage in Armstrong comes to $0.038 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).