Photo: Art Anderson · CC BY-SA 3.0Centre Hastings’ hazards at a glance: a low wildfire record and 12% of area homes over the radon guideline
No wildfire is mapped within 25 km of Centre Hastings’ homes since 1986 (0% of the land, 0.000% a year). NRCan expects $0.034 of shaking damage a year per $1,000 of buildings in Centre Hastings, near the typical $0.030. Centre Hastings grades C+ for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Centre Hastings’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Centre Hastings: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Centre Hastings faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Centre Hastings: C+
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Centre Hastings with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #821 of 866 in Ontario and #2,046 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
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 Centre Hastings has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Centre Hastings’ homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The yearly burn rate around Centre Hastings is 0.000%, low beside 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
16% of the land within 5 km of Centre Hastings is forest fuel, close to the 15% 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
Little or nothing burns around Centre Hastings in a typical year; 638 of the 871 towns in Ontario share that, and Sioux Lookout leads 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.
92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are in the low band and 7.5% above it; Centre Hastings is among the many where the yearly burn rate 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.
No flood study is listed for Centre Hastings
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Centre Hastings: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
There is no study for Centre Hastings on the national flood inventory, which is far from complete.
Towns with a flood study on file
Centre Hastings has no flood study on file, though 69% of towns in Ontario do (Canada: 58%).
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Nothing here counts toward Risk; the studies are pointers to the maps their owners keep for Centre Hastings.
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.”
Expected shaking damage in Centre Hastings: $0.034 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Centre Hastings’ $0.034 is close to the typical town’s $0.030 (1.1 times as much).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in Ontario peaks in Alexandria ($0.21); Centre Hastings, at $0.034, 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.
Neither high nor low for Canada: 46% of the 2,611 towns expect more damage than Centre Hastings.
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 loss is to Centre Hastings’ buildings alone, from ground shaking; infrastructure and secondary hazards are left out.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
12% of homes tested around Centre Hastings are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Area-wide: radon tests, counted over the Hastings and Prince Edward Counties Health Unit
Centre Hastings’ survey area reads 12% over the guideline, well past the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Centre Hastings’ area, at 12%, is above the median in Ontario (4%), and 2% 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.
More high tests than most: Centre Hastings sits in a band that only 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns share, with 4.6% above.
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.
The survey sampled homes around Centre Hastings; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Centre Hastings
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Centre Hastings; 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 Centre Hastings, 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)
How Centre Hastings’ neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
Tweed burns a little more than Centre Hastings, 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 Centre Hastings faces
What to do about the hazards Centre Hastings 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
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Centre Hastings’ homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Centre Hastings’ figure is its subdivision’s.
- 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 Centre Hastings.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Centre Hastings takes its 2007 health region’s share.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Centre Hastings
Is radon a problem in Centre Hastings?
In Health Canada’s survey, 12% of 99 homes tested in Centre Hastings’ area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
How is Centre Hastings’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Centre Hastings’ Hazard risk grade is C+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is Centre Hastings at risk of wildfire?
Hardly at all on record: 0% of the land within 25 km of Centre Hastings since 1986, a low band, though small grass fires aren’t mapped.
How big is the earthquake risk in Centre Hastings?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Centre Hastings $0.034 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Does Centre Hastings flood?
Nothing is listed for Centre Hastings on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
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).