Few places are as safe from hazards as Sheridan: it beats 89% of Canadian towns
The burned-area map is nearly blank around Sheridan, 0% within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. Seismic risk in Sheridan sits near the middle: $0.030 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Radon is lower than usual: 0% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Sheridan a grade of A, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Sheridan’s hazards
For Sheridan, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Sheridan faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Sheridan: A
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Sheridan 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: 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.
Little of the land around Sheridan has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Sheridan’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
With 0.000% burned a year, Sheridan is among the many low-band places (the typical Canadian town 0.000%).
Little near Sheridan’s homes can carry a forest fire; only 0.4% of the land within 5 km is forest fuel, and 1.9% 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
Near-zero burning puts Sheridan with 638 of the 871 towns in Ontario, far below Sioux Lookout 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.
Measured against 2,610 towns, Sheridan is in the largest group, low (92%), and at its floor, while 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.
Sheridan is on the flood map inventory: 2 studies, latest by Toronto Regional Conservation Authority
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Sheridan: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The newest of 2 studies covering Sheridan is Toronto Regional Conservation Authority’s, from 2021; open its map to see the zones.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Toronto Floodline Consolidation | Toronto Regional Conservation Authority | 2021 | final |
| Fletcher's Creek | Credit Valley Conservation Authority | 2005 | final · not public |
Towns with a flood study on file
69% of towns in Ontario have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Sheridan has one too.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood mapping around Sheridan has come in steps: 2 studies from the 2000s to the 2020s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Sheridan.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Sheridan.
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 Sheridan $0.030 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Sheridan’s $0.030 matches the typical town’s $0.030.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Below the middle in Ontario: Sheridan’s $0.030 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.
Neither high nor low for Canada: 48% of the 2,611 towns expect more damage than Sheridan.
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 Sheridan 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). · Earthquake risk: one figure for all of the city of Brampton
Little radon around Sheridan: 0% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Fewer homes than usual test high around Sheridan: 0% against 6.6% for the typical Canadian town. Behind radon tests sits data gathered across the Peel Regional Health Unit, with Sheridan one part of it.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The median in Ontario is 4% over 200 Bq/m³; around Sheridan it is 0%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Sheridan 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.
A low area share in Sheridan 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 Sheridan
Alerts for Sheridan 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. |
Fire danger and active fires near Sheridan are mapped daily by the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System; evacuation orders come from the municipality or province.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Sheridan
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sheridan | Low | $0.030 | 0% | Yes |
| County Court 5,726 · 1.0 km | Low | $0.030 | 0% | Yes |
| Hickory Woods 14,247 · 1.5 km | Low | $0.030 | 0% | Yes |
| Ridgehill / Armbro Heights 14,321 · 2.1 km | Low | $0.030 | 0% | Yes |
| Peel Village 13,037 · 2.8 km | Low | $0.030 | 0% | Yes |
| Meadowvale Village 30,139 · 2.8 km | Low | $0.040 | 0% | Yes |
| Fletchers West 18,552 · 3.0 km | Low | $0.030 | 0% | Yes |
Sheridan’s low band tops its neighbours; County Court is next (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Sheridan faces
What to do about the hazards Sheridan 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
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Sheridan’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Sheridan is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Sheridan, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- 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 Sheridan.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Sheridan
Is radon a problem in Sheridan?
Around Sheridan, 90 survey homes were tested and 0% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Does Sheridan flood?
There is flood mapping for Sheridan on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
Is Sheridan at risk of wildfire?
Very little by the national record: Sheridan’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Sheridan?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Sheridan’s buildings lose $0.030 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
How is Sheridan’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Sheridan grades A for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
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).