Photo: P199 · Public domainFlood mapping exists for Brighton: 3 on record, latest by Lower Trent Conservation
No wildfire is mapped within 25 km of Brighton’s homes since 1986 (0% of the land, 0.000% a year). NRCan expects $0.028 of shaking damage a year per $1,000 of buildings in Brighton, near the typical $0.030. In Health Canada’s survey, 6.1% of homes tested in Brighton’s area exceeded 200 Bq/m³, close to the typical 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Brighton a grade of B+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Brighton’s hazards
For Brighton, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Brighton faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Brighton grades B+ for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Brighton with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #459 of 866 in Ontario and #896 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 Brighton has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Brighton’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Low: the land around Brighton burns at 0.000% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
About as much forest grows next to Brighton’s homes (12% within 5 km) as across 25 km (11%).
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); Brighton 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.
Measured against 2,610 towns, Brighton 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.
Brighton is on the flood map inventory: 3 studies, latest by Lower Trent Conservation
Flood studies whose area touches Brighton, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
For Brighton the inventory points to 3 studies, most recently Lower Trent Conservation’s in 2024.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Butler Creek Floodplain Mapping Update | Lower Trent Conservation | 2024 | final |
| Lower Trent River | Lower Trent Region Conservation Authority | 2024 | final |
| Lake Ontario Shoreline Management Plan | Ganaraska Region Conservation Authority | 2020 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Ontario reaches 69% of towns, Brighton included, beside 58% across Canada.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Brighton’s homes stand in a flood zone.
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 Brighton: $0.028 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: Brighton’s $0.028 is ordinary.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in Ontario peaks in Alexandria ($0.21); Brighton, at $0.028, 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.
Around half of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Brighton (51%).
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 Brighton.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Some radon around Brighton: 6.1% of area homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Brighton’s area, at 6.1%, is close to the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Brighton’s area, at 6.1%, 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.
26% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have more homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Brighton’s 5–10% band, which holds 37%.
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.
Radon varies from house to house in Brighton, so the survey is a reason to test, not a result for yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests published for the Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Heal health region, not by town
Where to get warnings in Brighton
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Brighton; 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 Brighton 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 Brighton
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brighton | Low | $0.028 | 6.1% | Yes |
| Colborne 7,216 · 12 km | Low | $0.029 | 6.1% | Yes |
| Quinte West 50,385 · 17 km | Low | $0.034 | 12% | Yes |
The neighbour with the most fire is Colborne (low), still no more than Brighton (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Brighton faces
What to do about the hazards Brighton 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, Brighton takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Brighton’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Wildfire counts one way. For Brighton, 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. The flood inventory points to maps; it is incomplete and not the official source, so ask the municipality about any street in Brighton.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Brighton
Is Brighton at risk of wildfire?
Hardly at all on record: 0% of the land within 25 km of Brighton since 1986, a low band, though small grass fires aren’t mapped.
How big is the earthquake risk in Brighton?
Expected earthquake damage in Brighton comes to $0.028 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
How is Brighton’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Brighton B+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Does Brighton flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Brighton; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
Is radon a problem in Brighton?
In Health Canada’s survey, 6.1% of 98 homes tested in Brighton’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).