Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0Central Manitoulin faces fewer hazards than 92% of Canadian towns
No wildfire is mapped within 25 km of Central Manitoulin’s homes since 1986 (0% of the land, 0.000% a year). Shaking is less of a worry than in most places, at $0.009 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). In Health Canada’s survey, 5.2% of homes tested in Central Manitoulin’s area exceeded 200 Bq/m³, close to the typical 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Central Manitoulin a grade of A, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Central Manitoulin’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Central Manitoulin: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Central Manitoulin faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Central Manitoulin grades A for hazard risk
The grade weighs Central Manitoulin’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Little of the land around Central Manitoulin has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Central Manitoulin’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Low: the land around Central Manitoulin burns at 0.000% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Forest fuel covers 35% of the land close to Central Manitoulin and 41% across 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 872
Fire has taken almost none of the land around Central Manitoulin, as for 639 of the 872 towns in Ontario; Sioux Lookout tops the list 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.
Central Manitoulin shares the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, its burn rate rounding to nothing; 7.5% burn faster.
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 Central Manitoulin
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Central Manitoulin: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The inventory has nothing for Central Manitoulin, but a local or conservation-authority map may still exist.
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Ontario reaches 69% of towns, beside 58% across Canada, but not Central Manitoulin.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Central Manitoulin floods.
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.”
Little shaking expected in Central Manitoulin: $0.009 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
0.3 times the typical $0.030: Central Manitoulin’s $0.009 is low for Canada.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.009, Central Manitoulin is below the typical town 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.
Toward the quiet end of Canada’s range: 86% of its 2,611 towns sit above Central Manitoulin.
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).
The model counts damage to Central Manitoulin’s buildings and their occupants from shaking only: not liquefaction, landslides, tsunami or fires after a quake.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
5.2% of homes tested around Central Manitoulin are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Measured across the Sudbury and District Health Unit: radon tests
Central Manitoulin’s area sits close to the typical Canadian town: 5.2% over the guideline, against 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Central Manitoulin than in most towns in Ontario: 5.2% over the guideline (4% is typical), 1% over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Central Manitoulin 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.
One home in Central Manitoulin can be high while next door is low; a three-month test settles it.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Central Manitoulin
Alerts for Central Manitoulin come from Environment and Climate Change Canada and, for emergencies, Alert Ready.
| 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. |
Alert Ready carries evacuation orders for Central Manitoulin to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Get ready for what Central Manitoulin faces
What to do about the hazards Central Manitoulin 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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Central Manitoulin is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Shaking damage is modelled from the ground, the buildings and the odds of each quake, and published for whole subdivisions such as Central Manitoulin’s.
- 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 Central Manitoulin.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Central Manitoulin’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Central Manitoulin
Does Central Manitoulin flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Central Manitoulin’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
How is Central Manitoulin’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Central Manitoulin’s Hazard risk grade is A, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
How big is the earthquake risk in Central Manitoulin?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Central Manitoulin’s buildings lose $0.009 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is radon a problem in Central Manitoulin?
Around Central Manitoulin, 97 survey homes were tested and 5.2% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Is Central Manitoulin at risk of wildfire?
Very little by the national record: Central Manitoulin’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, so wildfire doesn’t change its 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).