Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0A flood study covers Bridgenorth: 2 on the national inventory, the newest from Ontonabee Region Conservation Authority
The national fire record shows next to nothing around Bridgenorth, 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). Earthquake risk in Bridgenorth is ordinary: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.026 a year per $1,000 of value, close to the typical town’s $0.030. Radon around Bridgenorth is ordinary for Canada: 8.9% of tested homes over the guideline (6.6% typical). Bridgenorth grades B for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Bridgenorth’s hazards
For Bridgenorth, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Bridgenorth faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Bridgenorth grades B for hazard risk
The grade weighs Bridgenorth’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: #645 of 866 in Ontario and #1,559 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 Bridgenorth has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Bridgenorth’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Fire claims 0.000% of the land around Bridgenorth each year, a low band, with the typical Canadian town at 0.000%.
There is forest near Bridgenorth’s homes (10% within 5 km) and more of it further out (21% 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
Among the 871 towns in Ontario, Sioux Lookout burns fastest (0.16% a year); Bridgenorth is with the 638 near zero.
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.
The low band holds 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, and Bridgenorth sits at its very bottom; only 7.5% are 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.
Flooding around Bridgenorth is mapped in 2 studies, the newest by Ontonabee Region Conservation Authority
Flood studies whose area touches Bridgenorth, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
For Bridgenorth the inventory points to 2 studies, most recently Ontonabee Region Conservation Authority’s in 1991.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peterborough | Ontonabee Region Conservation Authority | 1991 | final · not public |
| Lakefield West | Ontonabee Region Conservation Authority | 1981 | final · not public |
Towns with a flood study on file
69% of towns in Ontario have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Bridgenorth 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 Bridgenorth has come in steps: 2 studies from the 1980s to the 1990s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Bridgenorth.
Nothing here counts toward Risk; the studies are pointers to the maps their owners keep for Bridgenorth.
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.
Ordinary seismic risk in Bridgenorth: $0.026 per $1,000 of buildings a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
0.9 times the typical $0.030: Bridgenorth’s $0.026 is ordinary.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Below the middle in Ontario: Bridgenorth’s $0.026 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.
Around half of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Bridgenorth (53%).
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).
What a quake does after the shaking, fire, landslides, tsunami, falls outside NRCan’s figure for Bridgenorth.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Radon about average around Bridgenorth: 8.9% over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Around Bridgenorth, 8.9% of tested homes topped the guideline, near the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Bridgenorth, 8.9% of tests were over 200 Bq/m³ and 0.9% over 600, against a median of 4% in Ontario.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Bridgenorth is in the 5–10% band with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% 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.
Neighbouring homes in Bridgenorth can differ a lot; only a long-term test tells you about yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Not measured by town: radon tests (the Peterborough County-City Health Unit)
Where to get warnings in Bridgenorth
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Bridgenorth; 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. |
Smoke and fire warnings for Bridgenorth come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Bridgenorth
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bridgenorth | Low | $0.026 | 8.9% | Yes |
| Curve Lake First Nation 35 1,428 · 7.5 km | Low | $0.019 | 8.9% | None listed |
| Peterborough 97,834 · 12 km | Low | $0.025 | 8.9% | Yes |
| Douro-Dummer 8,379 · 16 km | Low | $0.030 | 8.9% | Yes |
Nowhere around Bridgenorth burns more: Curve Lake First Nation 35, the closest rival, is low to its low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Bridgenorth faces
What to do about the hazards Bridgenorth 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 Bridgenorth’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Bridgenorth 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 Bridgenorth.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Bridgenorth, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Bridgenorth
How big is the earthquake risk in Bridgenorth?
Expected earthquake damage in Bridgenorth comes to $0.026 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is radon a problem in Bridgenorth?
Around Bridgenorth, 112 survey homes were tested and 8.9% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Is Bridgenorth at risk of wildfire?
Hardly at all on record: 0% of the land within 25 km of Bridgenorth since 1986, a low band, though small grass fires aren’t mapped.
How is Bridgenorth’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Bridgenorth B, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Does Bridgenorth flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Bridgenorth; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in 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).