Photo: Nicholas4343 · CC BY-SA 3.0Hazards in Atikokan: wildfire low, radon over the guideline in 14% of tested homes
Fire seldom reaches Atikokan: since 1986, 0.9% of the land within 25 km has burned (0.02% a year). Earthquakes matter little: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.006 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Atikokan a grade of B; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Atikokan’s hazards
For Atikokan, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Atikokan faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Atikokan: B
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Atikokan with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #614 of 866 in Ontario and #1,405 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
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.
Little of the land around Atikokan has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0.9% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Atikokan’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
With 0.02% burned a year, Atikokan is among the many low-band places (the typical Canadian town 0.000%).
Since 1986 the nearest fire to Atikokan’s homes came within 12 km, never inside 5 km.
Within 5 km of Atikokan, 70% of the land is forest fuel; widen the ring to 25 km and it is 88%.
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
In the top quarter in Ontario: Atikokan ranks 15th of 871 at 0.02% a year, with Sioux Lookout first 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.
7.5% of Canada’s 2,610 towns burn fast enough to rank moderate or above; Atikokan stays low, with 92%.
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 Atikokan
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Atikokan: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The inventory has nothing for Atikokan, but a local or conservation-authority map may still exist.
Towns with a flood study on file
69% of towns in Ontario have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Atikokan is not yet one of them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Atikokan floods.
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.”
Low seismic risk in Atikokan: $0.006 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
0.2 times the typical $0.030: Atikokan’s $0.006 is low for Canada.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Below the middle in Ontario: Atikokan’s $0.006 against a median of $0.043; Alexandria has $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.
Earthquakes cost less around Atikokan than in 88% of Canada’s 2,611 towns.
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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in Atikokan is counted; landslides, liquefaction, tsunami and fire after a quake aren’t.
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 Atikokan: 14% of area homes were over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Atikokan’s survey area reads 14% over the guideline, well past the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Atikokan, 14% of tests were over 200 Bq/m³ and 1.9% 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.
The 10–20% band holds 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, Atikokan among them; 4.6% rank above.
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.
A low area share in Atikokan doesn’t clear a house, nor does a high one condemn it: test.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests published for the Northwestern Health Unit, not by town
Where to get warnings in Atikokan
Alerts for Atikokan 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. |
Fire danger and active fires near Atikokan are mapped daily by the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System; evacuation orders come from the municipality or province.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Get ready for what Atikokan faces
What to do about the hazards Atikokan 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
- 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 Atikokan floods.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Atikokan’s included.
- Wildfire counts one way. Burned land within 25 km of where people live, averaged over 1986–2025 and checked for fuel near homes, is the measure; it looks back, not ahead, and only ever counts against Atikokan.
- 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 Atikokan sits in.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Atikokan
Does Atikokan flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Atikokan’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
How big is the earthquake risk in Atikokan?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Atikokan $0.006 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is radon a problem in Atikokan?
Around Atikokan, 210 survey homes were tested and 14% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Is Atikokan at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0.9% of the land around Atikokan since 1986 (last in 2025); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How is Atikokan’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Atikokan grades B for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers 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).