Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 4.0Hazard risk in Beckwith is higher than in 93% of Canadian towns
For Beckwith, wildfire history is close to nil: 0% of nearby land since 1986, 0.001% a year. Earthquakes add more: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.11 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. More homes than usual carry radon here, 19% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Beckwith grades D for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Beckwith’s hazards
For Beckwith, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Beckwith faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Beckwith: D
Earthquake risk and radon make Beckwith’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
Its place: #863 of 866 in Ontario and #2,521 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Few fires near Beckwith: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Past fire around Beckwith’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
A burn rate of 0.001% a year keeps Beckwith in the low band (the typical Canadian town: 0.000%).
Beckwith’s homes have had no fire within 5 km since 1986; the closest was 12 km away.
16% of the land within 5 km of Beckwith is forest fuel, close to the 19% 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
Beckwith ranks 83rd of the 871 towns in Ontario for burn rate, at 0.001% a year; Sioux Lookout leads with 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 takes in 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, Beckwith among them, though its rate is above zero; 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.
4 flood studies cover Beckwith, the newest from Rideau Valley Conservation Authority
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Beckwith: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Rideau Valley Conservation Authority and others have studied flooding in areas that include Beckwith: 4 studies, the latest from 2021.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jock River Flood Risk Mapping from Richmond Road to Ashton Station Road | Rideau Valley Conservation Authority | 2021 | final |
| Lower Mississippi River Flood Plain Mapping Study | Mississippi Valley Conservation Authority | 2019 | final · not public |
| Kings Creek | Rideau Valley Conservation Authority | 2017 | final |
| Jock River | Rideau Valley Conservation Authority | 2005 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Its flood study puts Beckwith with 69% of towns in Ontario; Canada’s share is 58%.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Studies touching Beckwith run from the 2000s to the 2020s, with the most in the 2010s: 2 of 4.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Beckwith.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Beckwith’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.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Beckwith $0.11 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Beckwith’s $0.11 is about 3.7 times the typical town’s $0.030: it sits in one of Canada’s more active seismic zones.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Ontario expects $0.043 a year; Beckwith expects $0.11, and Alexandria $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.
More earthquake risk than most: only 24% of Canada’s 2,611 towns are above Beckwith.
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 Beckwith.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Radon runs high around Beckwith: 19% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Beckwith’s survey area reads 19% over the guideline, well past the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. For radon tests, the only official count covers all of the Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit, Beckwith included.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Beckwith, 19% 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.
One test in ten or more tops the guideline around Beckwith, 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.
Health Canada advises testing every home, Beckwith’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Beckwith
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Beckwith; 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 Beckwith, 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 Beckwith
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beckwith | Low | $0.11 | 19% | Yes |
| Carleton Place 14,837 · 3.5 km | Low | $0.12 | 19% | Yes |
| Almonte 16,073 · 15 km | Low | $0.11 | 19% | Yes |
| Corkery 3,822 · 18 km | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | Yes |
| Munster - Ashton 6,372 · 18 km | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | Yes |
| Drummond/North Elmsley 8,817 · 19 km | Low | $0.088 | 19% | Yes |
The fire record around Carleton Place is a touch heavier than Beckwith’s, but the band is the same: low (here low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Beckwith faces
Practical steps for Beckwith’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
- 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 Beckwith.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Beckwith’s included.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Beckwith is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- 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 Beckwith.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Beckwith
Is Beckwith at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Beckwith’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 1999), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Is radon a problem in Beckwith?
19% of the 108 homes Health Canada tested around Beckwith topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How big is the earthquake risk in Beckwith?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Beckwith $0.11 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Does Beckwith flood?
There is flood mapping for Beckwith on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
How is Beckwith’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Beckwith’s Hazard risk grade is D, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
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).