Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0On hazards, Augusta comes out behind 93% of Canadian towns
Fire has left almost no mark near Augusta: 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. Seismic risk runs high: $0.11 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. In Health Canada’s survey, 19% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Augusta grades D for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Augusta’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Augusta: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Augusta faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Augusta grades D for hazard risk
Seismic risk and radon set Augusta’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
Its place: #862 of 866 in Ontario and #2,505 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.
Little of the land around Augusta has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Augusta’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Next to the typical Canadian town (0.000% a year), Augusta’s 0.000% is in the low band.
About as much forest grows next to Augusta’s homes (14% within 5 km) as across 25 km (12%).
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
Little or nothing burns around Augusta in a typical year; 638 of the 871 towns in Ontario share that, and Sioux Lookout leads 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.
The low band holds 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, and Augusta sits at its very bottom; only 7.5% are above it.
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.
2 flood studies cover Augusta, the newest from Cataraqui Region Conservation Authority
Flood studies whose area touches Augusta, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Cataraqui Region Conservation Authority and others have studied flooding in areas that include Augusta: 2 studies, the latest from 2024.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cataraqui Region Conservation Authority from Kingston to Brockville | Cataraqui Region Conservation Authority | 2024 | final · not public |
| Kemptville Creek | Rideau Valley Conservation Authority | 2009 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
69% of towns in Ontario have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Augusta has one too.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
No single decade dominates: 2 studies for Augusta between the 2000s and the 2020s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Augusta.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Augusta’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.
High seismic risk in Augusta: $0.11 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.
Roughly 3.6 times the typical $0.030: Augusta’s $0.11 marks real seismic exposure.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in Ontario peaks in Alexandria ($0.21); Augusta, at $0.11, sits above the median of $0.043.
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 Augusta.
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 Augusta’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 Augusta are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Area-wide: radon tests, counted over the Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit
Radon runs above the typical Canadian town (6.6%) in Augusta’s area, at 19%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Augusta 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.
Augusta is in the 10–20% band, with 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; only 4.6% are 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.
A survey sample isn’t a map: any home in Augusta can be high, and a three-month test is the only way to know.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Augusta
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Augusta; 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 Augusta, 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 Augusta
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Augusta | Low | $0.11 | 19% | Yes |
| Prescott 4,342 · 6.5 km | Low | $0.10 | 19% | None listed |
| Brockville 23,720 · 13 km | Low | $0.077 | 19% | Yes |
| Cardinal 7,952 · 19 km | Low | $0.13 | 19% | Yes |
The neighbour with the most fire is Prescott (low), still no more than Augusta (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Augusta faces
Practical steps for Augusta’s hazards, most pressing first.
- 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
- 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 Augusta until then.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Augusta without grading them.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Augusta’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Augusta’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Augusta
Is radon a problem in Augusta?
The area’s survey found 19% of 108 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Augusta.
Is Augusta at risk of wildfire?
The burned-area record shows next to nothing around Augusta (0% within 25 km since 1986), so its band is low.
How is Augusta’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Augusta grades D for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Augusta?
Expected earthquake damage in Augusta comes to $0.11 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Does Augusta flood?
A flood study covers Augusta on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t 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).