Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0Hazards in Bonfield are mild: low wildfire and earthquake risk, and 1.9% of area homes above the radon guideline
Fire has left almost no mark near Bonfield: 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. NRCan expects $0.059 of shaking damage a year per $1,000 of buildings in Bonfield, near the typical $0.030. Bonfield grades A− for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Bonfield’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Bonfield: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Bonfield faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Bonfield grades A− for hazard risk
For Bonfield, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
Its place: #456 of 866 in Ontario and #891 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 Bonfield has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Bonfield’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
The yearly burn rate around Bonfield is 0.000%, low beside 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Fire has stayed at least 23 km from Bonfield’s homes since 1986.
Forest fuel is spread evenly around Bonfield: 23% within 5 km, 26% 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
To three decimals the burn rate around Bonfield is zero, as for 638 of the 871 towns in Ontario, while Sioux Lookout reaches 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.
92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are in the low band and 7.5% above it; Bonfield is among the many where the yearly burn rate 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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Bonfield
Flood studies whose area touches Bonfield, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
An empty entry for Bonfield on the inventory isn’t proof of safety; ask locally for flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Ontario reaches 69% of towns, beside 58% across Canada, but not Bonfield.
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 Bonfield 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.”
Expected shaking damage in Bonfield: $0.059 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.
Nothing unusual about Bonfield’s ground: $0.059 against a typical $0.030, 2 times.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.059, Bonfield 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.
Bonfield sits above most of Canada’s 2,611 towns on earthquake risk; 30% are higher.
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 Bonfield’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).
Radon runs low around Bonfield: 1.9% of tested homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Measured across the North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit: radon tests
A lower share than most: 1.9% of tested homes around Bonfield, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The median in Ontario is 4% over 200 Bq/m³; around Bonfield it is 1.9%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Few tests over the guideline: Bonfield shares the bottom band with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, below the other 63%.
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.
The share describes the area, not a house: in Bonfield as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Bonfield
Alerts for Bonfield 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. |
Evacuation orders for Bonfield come from the municipality or the province, while CWFIS maps fire danger every day.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Bonfield
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bonfield | Low | $0.059 | 1.9% | None listed |
| East Ferris 5,835 · 10.0 km | Low | $0.056 | 1.9% | None listed |
| Chisholm 1,593 · 17 km | Low | $0.044 | 1.9% | None listed |
| Callander 4,021 · 17 km | Low | $0.045 | 1.9% | None listed |
The neighbour with the most fire is East Ferris (low), still no more than Bonfield (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Bonfield faces
Practical steps for Bonfield’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.
- 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 Bonfield floods.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Shaking damage is modelled from the ground, the buildings and the odds of each quake, and published for whole subdivisions such as Bonfield’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Bonfield’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- 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 Bonfield sits in.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Bonfield
Does Bonfield flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Bonfield (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
Is radon a problem in Bonfield?
1.9% of the 103 homes Health Canada tested around Bonfield topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How big is the earthquake risk in Bonfield?
Expected earthquake damage in Bonfield comes to $0.059 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is Bonfield at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Bonfield’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 1998), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
How is Bonfield’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Bonfield A−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
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).