Photo: JFVoll · CC BY-SA 4.0Brantford is on Canada’s flood inventory: 1 listed, led by Grand River Conservation Authority
Wildfire barely registers for Brantford, at 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). Seismic risk in Brantford sits near the middle: $0.029 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Radon is higher than usual: 10% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Brantford a grade of C+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Brantford’s hazards
For Brantford, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Brantford faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Brantford: C+
Two inputs always count for Brantford, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
Its place: #672 of 866 in Ontario and #1,790 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.
Wildfire is rare near Brantford: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Brantford’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The land within 25 km of Brantford burns at 0.000% a year on average, the low band; the typical Canadian town: 0.000%.
Little near Brantford’s homes can carry a forest fire; only 1% of the land within 5 km is forest fuel, and 1.8% 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 Brantford 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.
Like most of Canada’s 2,610 towns (92%), Brantford is in the low band, with a burn rate of zero to three decimals; 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.
Grand River Conservation Authority has mapped flooding for Brantford (1 study)
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Brantford: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The flood study touching Brantford is Grand River Conservation Authority’s, dated 2018; its own map shows the zones street by street.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grand River Regulatory Floodplain | Grand River Conservation Authority | 2018 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Its flood study puts Brantford 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.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Brantford’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 Brantford $0.029 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.029 per $1,000, Brantford’s earthquake risk is the typical Canadian town’s $0.030.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Brantford’s $0.029 sits under the median in Ontario, $0.043, and well under Alexandria’s $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.
Brantford sits mid-range among Canada’s 2,611 towns: 51% expect more shaking damage.
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 Brantford 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).
Radon runs high around Brantford: 10% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Radon tests for the Brant County Health Unit
the typical Canadian town has 6.6% over the guideline; Brantford’s area has 10%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Brantford’s area, at 10%, is above the median in Ontario (4%), and 1% of its tests passed 600 Bq/m³.
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 Brantford, 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.
A low area share in Brantford 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 Brantford
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Brantford; 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 Brantford, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Brantford
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brantford | Low | $0.029 | 10% | Yes |
| Paris 45,565 · 9.6 km | Low | $0.027 | 10% | Yes |
| Six Nations (Part) 40 7,298 · 15 km | Low | $0.033 | 10% | Yes |
| Lynden 10,442 · 17 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | Yes |
The neighbour with the most fire is Paris (low), still no more than Brantford (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Brantford faces
What to do about the hazards Brantford 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
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Brantford takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Brantford’s included.
- 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 Brantford.
- 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 Brantford.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Brantford
How is Brantford’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Brantford’s Hazard risk grade is C+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
How big is the earthquake risk in Brantford?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Brantford $0.029 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Does Brantford flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Brantford; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
Is Brantford at risk of wildfire?
Hardly at all on record: 0% of the land within 25 km of Brantford since 1986, a low band, though small grass fires aren’t mapped.
Is radon a problem in Brantford?
In Health Canada’s survey, 10% of 96 homes tested in Brantford’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
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).