Photo: Joe Mabel (on Flickr as Joe Mabel from Seattle, US) · CC BY-SA 3.0Few places are as safe from hazards as Bradford: it beats 94% of Canadian towns
Wildfire is rare near Bradford: 0% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, a burn rate of 0.001% a year. NRCan expects $0.019 of shaking damage a year per $1,000 of buildings in Bradford, near the typical $0.030. Fewer homes than usual carry radon here, 0.9% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Bradford grades A for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Bradford’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Bradford: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Bradford faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Bradford grades A for hazard risk
The grade weighs Bradford’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
Its place: #21 of 866 in Ontario and #263 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.
Few fires near Bradford: 0.1% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Past fire around Bradford’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Forty years of fire maps put Bradford at 0.001% a year, low next to the typical Canadian town’s 0.000%.
Near or far, forest fuel covers a similar share around Bradford: 6.1% within 5 km and 10% 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
At 0.001% a year, Bradford is near the top in Ontario: 83rd of 871, behind Sioux Lookout (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.
Low, like 92% of the country’s 2,610 towns: the land around Bradford burns, but slower than in the 7.5% 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.
No flood study is listed for Bradford
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Bradford: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
An empty entry for Bradford 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 Bradford.
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 Bradford 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.”
Ordinary seismic risk in Bradford: $0.019 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
With $0.019 of shaking damage a year per $1,000, Bradford is about even with the typical $0.030 (0.6 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Below the middle in Ontario: Bradford’s $0.019 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.
Toward the quiet end of Canada’s range: 66% of its 2,611 towns sit above Bradford.
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 Bradford’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).
Little radon around Bradford: 0.9% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Measured across the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit: radon tests
Bradford’s survey area reads 0.9% over the guideline, under the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Bradford’s area, at 0.9%, is below the median in Ontario (4%).
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Bradford is in the lowest band, with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns: under 5% of tests over the guideline, while 63% have more.
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 Bradford as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Bradford
Alerts for Bradford 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 Bradford 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)
How Bradford’s neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bradford | Low | $0.019 | 0.9% | None listed |
| Newmarket 95,763 · 11 km | Low | $0.019 | 0% | None listed |
| East Gwillimbury 42,989 · 12 km | Low | $0.023 | 0% | None listed |
| Aurora 67,385 · 15 km | Low | $0.020 | 0% | Yes |
| Alliston 50,739 · 18 km | Low | $0.020 | 0.9% | None listed |
| King 29,077 · 18 km | Low | $0.021 | 0% | Yes |
Newmarket (low) has the heaviest fire record of Bradford’s neighbours, and Bradford (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Bradford faces
What to do about the hazards Bradford 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
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Bradford’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Bradford takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. The flood inventory points to maps; it is incomplete and not the official source, so ask the municipality about any street in Bradford.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Bradford’s figure is its subdivision’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Bradford
Is radon a problem in Bradford?
In Health Canada’s survey, 0.9% of 109 homes tested in Bradford’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Does Bradford flood?
Nothing is listed for Bradford on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
Is Bradford at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0% of the land within 25 km of Bradford has burned since 1986, the last in 2006, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
How is Bradford’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Bradford’s Hazard risk grade is A, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
How big is the earthquake risk in Bradford?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Bradford’s buildings lose $0.019 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
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).