Photo: Bwake · CC BY-SA 3.0On hazards, Drummond/North Elmsley comes out behind 92% of Canadian towns
Wildfire barely registers for Drummond/North Elmsley, at 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.001% a year). Seismic risk runs high: $0.088 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Radon is higher than usual: 19% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Drummond/North Elmsley a grade of D, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Drummond/North Elmsley’s hazards
For Drummond/North Elmsley, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Drummond/North Elmsley faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Drummond/North Elmsley: D
The grade weighs Drummond/North Elmsley’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
Its place: #856 of 866 in Ontario and #2,488 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 Drummond/North Elmsley has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Drummond/North Elmsley’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Next to the typical Canadian town (0.000% a year), Drummond/North Elmsley’s 0.001% is in the low band.
No fire has burned within 5 km of Drummond/North Elmsley’s homes since 1986; the nearest burn is 23 km away.
Forest thickens with distance from Drummond/North Elmsley: 6.9% of the land within 5 km, 14% 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
In the top quarter in Ontario: Drummond/North Elmsley ranks 83rd of 871 at 0.001% a year, with Sioux Lookout first 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.
Beside 2,610 Canadian towns, Drummond/North Elmsley reads low, with 92% of them; only 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.
7 flood studies cover Drummond/North Elmsley, the newest from Mississippi Valley Conservation Authority
Flood studies whose area touches Drummond/North Elmsley, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
The newest of 7 studies covering Drummond/North Elmsley is Mississippi Valley Conservation Authority’s, from 2026; open its map to see the zones.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fall River | Mississippi Valley Conservation Authority | 2026 | final |
| Lower Clyde River | Mississippi Valley Conservation Authority | 2023 | final |
| Tay River From Glen Tay Road to Lower Rideau Lake | Rideau Valley Conservation Authority | 2013 | final |
| Blueberry Creek | Rideau Valley Conservation Authority | 2010 | final |
| Rideau River, Poonamalie Dam to Smith Falls | Rideau Valley Conservation Authority | 2010 | final |
| Rideau River Floodline Mapping, Smiths Falls to Poonamalie | Rideau Valley Conservation Authority | 1979 | final |
| Rideau River, Smiths Falls to Kars | Rideau Valley Conservation Authority | 1976 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Its flood study puts Drummond/North Elmsley 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.
Studies touching Drummond/North Elmsley run from the 1970s to the 2020s, with the most in the 2010s: 3 of 7.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Drummond/North Elmsley.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Drummond/North Elmsley 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.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
Shaking is Drummond/North Elmsley’s costliest hazard: $0.088 a year per $1,000
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
At $0.088 per $1,000, Drummond/North Elmsley carries roughly 2.9 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Ontario expects $0.043 a year; Drummond/North Elmsley expects $0.088, and Alexandria $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.
Drummond/North Elmsley sits above most of Canada’s 2,611 towns on earthquake risk; 27% 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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in Drummond/North Elmsley is counted; landslides, liquefaction, tsunami and fire after a quake aren’t.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Test for radon in Drummond/North Elmsley: 19% of area homes were over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
the typical Canadian town has 6.6% over the guideline; Drummond/North Elmsley’s area has 19%. Nobody publishes radon tests for Drummond/North Elmsley alone, so this card uses the figure for the Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
More homes top the guideline around Drummond/North Elmsley (19%) than in the typical town in Ontario (4%); 1.9% went over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
The 10–20% band holds 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, Drummond/North Elmsley among them; 4.6% rank 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.
Neighbouring homes in Drummond/North Elmsley can differ a lot; only a long-term test tells you about yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Drummond/North Elmsley
Alerts for Drummond/North Elmsley 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. |
Fire danger and active fires near Drummond/North Elmsley are mapped daily by the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System; evacuation orders come from the municipality or province.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Drummond/North Elmsley’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drummond/North Elmsley | Low | $0.088 | 19% | Yes |
| Perth 6,972 · 7.0 km | Low | $0.081 | 19% | Yes |
| Smiths Falls 11,093 · 16 km | Low | $0.092 | 19% | Yes |
| Tay Valley 6,171 · 17 km | Low | $0.064 | 19% | Yes |
| Montague 4,414 · 19 km | Low | $0.10 | 19% | Yes |
| Beckwith 10,073 · 19 km | Low | $0.11 | 19% | Yes |
Nowhere around Drummond/North Elmsley burns more: Tay Valley, 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 Drummond/North Elmsley faces
What to do about the hazards Drummond/North Elmsley 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 Drummond/North Elmsley.
- 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 Drummond/North Elmsley.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Drummond/North Elmsley takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Drummond/North Elmsley’s included.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Drummond/North Elmsley
Does Drummond/North Elmsley flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Drummond/North Elmsley; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
Is radon a problem in Drummond/North Elmsley?
In Health Canada’s survey, 19% of 108 homes tested in Drummond/North Elmsley’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Is Drummond/North Elmsley at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0% of the land within 25 km of Drummond/North Elmsley has burned since 1986, the last in 1999, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
How is Drummond/North Elmsley’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Drummond/North Elmsley’s Hazard risk grade is D, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
How big is the earthquake risk in Drummond/North Elmsley?
Expected earthquake damage in Drummond/North Elmsley comes to $0.088 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).