Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0Hazard risk in Athens is higher than in 90% of Canadian towns
Around Athens, wildfire is practically absent from the record: 0% within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. Shaking is a bigger worry than in most places, at $0.067 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). More homes than usual carry radon here, 19% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Athens grades D for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Athens’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Athens: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Athens faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Athens grades D for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Athens with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #852 of 866 in Ontario and #2,473 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 Athens has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Athens’ residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
The yearly burn rate around Athens is 0.000%, low beside 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Forest fuel is spread evenly around Athens: 11% within 5 km, 8.5% 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
Of the 871 towns in Ontario, 638 have a burn rate that rounds to zero, Athens among them; Sioux Lookout leads at 0.16% a year.
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.
Most of the country’s 2,610 towns are low-band (92%, against 7.5% above); around Athens, burning rounds to zero.
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 Athens
Flood studies whose area touches Athens, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
The inventory has nothing for Athens, but a local or conservation-authority map may still exist.
Towns with a flood study on file
Missing from a well-mapped province: Athens 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 studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Athens.
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.”
High seismic risk in Athens: $0.067 per $1,000 of buildings a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
At $0.067 per $1,000, Athens carries roughly 2.2 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.067, Athens is above the typical town in Ontario ($0.043); Alexandria has the most 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: 29% of its 2,611 towns expect more damage than Athens.
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 model counts damage to Athens’ buildings and their occupants from shaking only: not liquefaction, landslides, tsunami or fires after a quake.
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 Athens are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Athens’ survey area reads 19% over the guideline, well past the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Athens 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 Athens, 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.
One home in Athens 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). · Radon tests published for the Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit, not by town
Weather and fire alerts for Athens
Alerts for Athens 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. |
Alert Ready carries evacuation orders for Athens to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Athens’ neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Athens | Low | $0.067 | 19% | None listed |
| Elizabethtown-Kitley 9,886 · 9.7 km | Low | $0.085 | 19% | Yes |
| Front of Yonge 2,773 · 15 km | Low | $0.060 | 19% | Yes |
| Rideau Lakes 12,148 · 18 km | Low | $0.059 | 19% | Yes |
Elizabethtown-Kitley (low) has the heaviest fire record of Athens’ neighbours, and Athens (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Athens faces
What to do about the hazards Athens 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
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Athens is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Athens’ figure is its subdivision’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Athens’ homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- 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 Athens.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Athens
Does Athens flood?
Nothing is listed for Athens on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
How is Athens’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Athens’ Hazard risk grade is D, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is radon a problem in Athens?
In Health Canada’s survey, 19% of 108 homes tested in Athens’ area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Is Athens at risk of wildfire?
No meaningful wildfire history near Athens: 0% of nearby land since 1986, band low.
How big is the earthquake risk in Athens?
Expected earthquake damage in Athens comes to $0.067 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).