Photo: Kitchener-Waterloo Record · Public domainCambridge is on Canada’s flood inventory: 1 listed, led by Grand River Conservation Authority
The national fire record shows next to nothing around Cambridge, 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). For earthquakes Cambridge is middling, $0.024 a year per $1,000 against $0.030 for the typical town. In Health Canada’s survey, just 4% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Hazard risk gives Cambridge a grade of A−, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Cambridge’s hazards
For Cambridge, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Cambridge faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Cambridge: A−
Two inputs always count for Cambridge, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
Its place: #276 of 866 in Ontario and #652 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.
Few fires near Cambridge: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Cambridge’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Fire claims 0.000% of the land around Cambridge each year, a low band, with the typical Canadian town at 0.000%.
Forest fuel is spread evenly around Cambridge: 6% within 5 km, 5.3% 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); Cambridge 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.
Most of the country’s 2,610 towns are low-band (92%, against 7.5% above); around Cambridge, burning rounds to zero.
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.
A flood study covers Cambridge, from Grand River Conservation Authority: 1 on the inventory
Flood studies whose area touches Cambridge, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
The flood study touching Cambridge 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 Cambridge 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.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Cambridge’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.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Cambridge $0.024 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.
At $0.024 per $1,000, Cambridge’s earthquake risk is about the typical Canadian town’s ($0.030; 0.8 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Ontario expects $0.043 a year in shaking damage; Cambridge expects less, $0.024, and Alexandria the most, $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.
Cambridge’s earthquake risk lands near the centre of Canada’s range; 54% of the 2,611 towns are higher.
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 Cambridge.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Little radon around Cambridge: 4% of area homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Radon runs below the typical Canadian town (6.6%) in Cambridge’s area, at 4%. Behind radon tests sits data gathered across the Waterloo Health Unit, with Cambridge one part of it.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Cambridge’s area, at 4%, is close to the median in Ontario (4%).
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
The quietest radon band, under 5%, holds 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns and Cambridge; 63% sit 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.
Health Canada advises testing every home, Cambridge’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Cambridge
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Cambridge; 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. |
For fires near Cambridge, the national fire information system maps danger and active fires daily; local authorities give any evacuation order.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Cambridge
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cambridge | Low | $0.024 | 4% | Yes |
| Pioneer Tower West 4,122 · 7.7 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| Doon South 15,044 · 9.6 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| Pioneer Park 8,781 · 10 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| Centreville Chicopee 10,291 · 11 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| Grand River South 10,723 · 11 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| Idlewood 5,005 · 12 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
Nowhere around Cambridge burns more: Pioneer Tower West, 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 Cambridge faces
What to do about the hazards Cambridge 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
- 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 Cambridge.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Cambridge is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Cambridge’s included.
- 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 Cambridge.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Cambridge
How is Cambridge’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Cambridge grades A− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Does Cambridge flood?
There is flood mapping for Cambridge on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
Is radon a problem in Cambridge?
Around Cambridge, 101 survey homes were tested and 4% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Is Cambridge at risk of wildfire?
Very little by the national record: Cambridge’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 Cambridge?
Expected earthquake damage in Cambridge comes to $0.024 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).