Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0Callander faces few natural hazards: little fire nearby, low seismic risk, radon over the guideline in 1.9% of tested homes
The national fire record shows next to nothing around Callander, 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). Earthquake risk in Callander is ordinary: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.045 a year per $1,000 of value, close to the typical town’s $0.030. Hazard risk gives Callander a grade of A−, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Callander’s hazards
For Callander, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Callander faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Callander: A−
Earthquake risk and radon make Callander’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
Its place: #284 of 866 in Ontario and #688 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 Callander has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Callander’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Callander burns at 0.000% a year, low against 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Callander’s homes have had no fire within 5 km since 1986; the closest was 14 km away.
22% of the land within 5 km of Callander is forest fuel, close to the 23% 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
Sioux Lookout has the highest burn rate in Ontario, 0.16% a year; around Callander, as around 638 of the 871 towns, it rounds to 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.
Only 7.5% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are above the low band, which holds 92%; Callander, at a rounded zero, is far from them.
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.
No flood study is listed for Callander
Flood studies whose area touches Callander, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Nationally, Callander has no listed flood study; the municipality is the place to ask.
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Ontario reaches 69% of towns, beside 58% across Canada, but not Callander.
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 Callander’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.”
Earthquakes cost buildings in Callander $0.045 per $1,000 a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
1.5 times the typical $0.030: Callander’s $0.045 is ordinary.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Callander’s $0.045 is close to the median in Ontario, $0.043; Alexandria is highest at $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.
More earthquake risk than most: only 32% of Canada’s 2,611 towns are above Callander.
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 Callander.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
1.9% of homes tested around Callander are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Source area for radon tests: the North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit
At 1.9% over the guideline, the area around Callander is under the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Against the typical town in Ontario (4%), the area around Callander has fewer high tests: 1.9%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Few tests over the guideline: Callander shares the bottom band with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, below the other 63%.
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.
Health Canada advises testing every home, Callander’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Callander
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Callander; 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 Callander come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Callander’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Callander | Low | $0.045 | 1.9% | None listed |
| East Ferris 5,835 · 8.4 km | Low | $0.056 | 1.9% | None listed |
| North Bay 62,062 · 14 km | Low | $0.050 | 1.9% | None listed |
| Powassan 3,657 · 16 km | Low | $0.035 | 1.9% | None listed |
| Nipissing 1,840 · 16 km | Low | $0.030 | 1.9% | None listed |
| Chisholm 1,593 · 16 km | Low | $0.044 | 1.9% | None listed |
| Bonfield 2,597 · 17 km | Low | $0.059 | 1.9% | None listed |
North Bay burns a little more than Callander, in the same low band (low here).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Callander faces
Practical steps for Callander’s hazards, most pressing first.
- 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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- 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, Callander 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 Callander.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Callander’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 Callander.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Callander
Is radon a problem in Callander?
The area’s survey found 1.9% of 103 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Callander.
How is Callander’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Callander’s Hazard risk grade is A−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is Callander at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Callander’s low band (0% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2012) is short of the level that counts.
Does Callander flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Callander, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
How big is the earthquake risk in Callander?
Expected earthquake damage in Callander comes to $0.045 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
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).