Hickory Woods faces fewer hazards than 89% of Canadian towns
Around Hickory Woods, wildfire is practically absent from the record: 0% within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. NRCan expects $0.030 of shaking damage a year per $1,000 of buildings in Hickory Woods, near the typical $0.030. In Health Canada’s survey, just 0% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Hickory Woods grades A for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Hickory Woods’s hazards
For Hickory Woods, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Hickory Woods faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Hickory Woods: A
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Hickory Woods with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #105 of 866 in Ontario and #417 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 Hickory Woods has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Hickory Woods’ homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
A burn rate of 0.000% a year keeps Hickory Woods in the low band (the typical Canadian town: 0.000%).
Land that isn’t forest covers nearly all the ground around Hickory Woods: forest fuel is 0.5% within 5 km and 2.1% 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
Little or nothing burns around Hickory Woods 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.
Most of the country’s 2,610 towns are low-band (92%, against 7.5% above); around Hickory Woods, burning 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.
9 flood studies cover Hickory Woods, the newest from Credit Valley Conservation Authority
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Hickory Woods: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Credit Valley Conservation Authority and others have studied flooding in areas that include Hickory Woods: 9 studies, the latest from 2016.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| East Credit | Credit Valley Conservation Authority | 2016 | final · not public |
| Credit River | Credit Valley Conservation Authority | 2008 | final · not public |
| West Credit River | Credit Valley Conservation Authority | 2008 | final · not public |
| Credit River | Credit Valley Conservation Authority | 2007 | final · not public |
| Credit River | Credit Valley Conservation Authority | 2006 | final · not public |
| Huttonville Creek | Credit Valley Conservation Authority | 2006 | final · not public |
| Fletcher's Creek | Credit Valley Conservation Authority | 2005 | final · not public |
| Churchville | Credit Valley Conservation Authority | 1998 | final · not public |
1 more studies on the inventory touch Hickory Woods.
Towns with a flood study on file
Its flood study puts Hickory Woods 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 Hickory Woods run from the 1990s to the 2010s, with the most in the 2000s: 6 of 9.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Hickory Woods.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Hickory Woods’ 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.
Expected shaking damage in Hickory Woods: $0.030 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Hickory Woods’ $0.030 is the typical figure ($0.030): ordinary ground for Canada.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in Ontario peaks in Alexandria ($0.21); Hickory Woods, at $0.030, is below 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.
Neither high nor low for Canada: 48% of the 2,611 towns expect more damage than Hickory Woods.
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).
For Hickory Woods the model prices shaking damage to buildings, nothing more.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean). · Area behind the earthquake risk figures: the city of Brampton
Little radon around Hickory Woods: 0% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Radon runs below the typical Canadian town (6.6%) in Hickory Woods’ area, at 0%. Behind radon tests sits data gathered across the Peel Regional Health Unit, with Hickory Woods one part of it.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Against the typical town in Ontario (4%), the area around Hickory Woods has fewer high tests: 0%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Radon rarely tops the guideline around Hickory Woods, as for 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 63% see 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.
A low area share in Hickory Woods 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).
Where to get warnings in Hickory Woods
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Hickory Woods; 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. |
In fire season, check CWFIS for danger and active fires around Hickory Woods, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Hickory Woods
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hickory Woods | Low | $0.030 | 0% | Yes |
| Sheridan 11,110 · 1.5 km | Low | $0.030 | 0% | Yes |
| Churchville 9,043 · 1.6 km | Low | $0.030 | 0% | Yes |
| Meadowvale Village 30,139 · 2.2 km | Low | $0.040 | 0% | Yes |
| Fletchers West 18,552 · 2.4 km | Low | $0.030 | 0% | Yes |
| County Court 5,726 · 2.5 km | Low | $0.030 | 0% | Yes |
| Ridgehill / Armbro Heights 14,321 · 2.5 km | Low | $0.030 | 0% | Yes |
Hickory Woods’ low band tops its neighbours; Sheridan is next (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Hickory Woods faces
What to do about the hazards Hickory Woods 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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
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 Hickory Woods.
- 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 Hickory Woods floods.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Hickory Woods’ included.
- 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 Hickory Woods sits in.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Hickory Woods
Is radon a problem in Hickory Woods?
In Health Canada’s survey, 0% of 90 homes tested in Hickory Woods’ area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
How is Hickory Woods’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hickory Woods’ Hazard risk grade is A, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
How big is the earthquake risk in Hickory Woods?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Hickory Woods $0.030 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is Hickory Woods at risk of wildfire?
The burned-area record shows next to nothing around Hickory Woods (0% within 25 km since 1986), so its band is low.
Does Hickory Woods flood?
Hickory Woods’ area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
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).