Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 2.5Wildfire low, radon 8.6%: how Elliot Lake stands on hazards
Burn scars are few around Elliot Lake, with 0.1% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.001% a year). Earthquakes matter little: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.006 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Elliot Lake grades A− for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Elliot Lake’s hazards
For Elliot Lake, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Elliot Lake faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Elliot Lake grades A− for hazard risk
The grade weighs Elliot Lake’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: #235 of 866 in Ontario and #585 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 Elliot Lake: 0% within 5 km, 0.1% within 25 km
Past fire around Elliot Lake’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
In a typical year 0.001% of the land near Elliot Lake burns; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%, and both are low.
The closest burn since 1986 lies 13 km from Elliot Lake’s homes, none within 5 km.
Forest thickens with distance from Elliot Lake: 16% of the land within 5 km, 39% 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
Elliot Lake ranks 83rd of the 871 towns in Ontario for burn rate, at 0.001% a year; Sioux Lookout leads with 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.
Low, like 92% of the country’s 2,610 towns: the land around Elliot Lake burns, but slower than in the 7.5% above it.
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 Elliot Lake
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Elliot Lake: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
There is no study for Elliot Lake on the national flood inventory, which is far from complete.
Towns with a flood study on file
Missing from a well-mapped province: Elliot Lake has no study, where 69% of towns in Ontario have one against 58% nationally.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood mapping is shown for Elliot Lake to be opened and checked, never turned into a grade.
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 Elliot Lake just $0.006 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Elliot Lake’s $0.006 is a fraction of the typical town’s $0.030 (0.2 times as much): quiet ground by Canadian standards.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Ontario expects $0.043 a year in shaking damage; Elliot Lake expects less, $0.006, 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.
Elliot Lake is in the lower part of Canada’s range for earthquake risk; 88% 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 Elliot Lake.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Some radon around Elliot Lake: 8.6% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Around Elliot Lake, 8.6% of tested homes topped the guideline, near the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
More homes top the guideline around Elliot Lake (8.6%) than in the typical town in Ontario (4%); 1.1% went over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
A middling share of high tests puts Elliot Lake with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, below 26% of them.
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 Elliot Lake 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). · Radon tests: the The District of Algoma Health Unit
Where to get warnings in Elliot Lake
Alerts for Elliot Lake 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. |
Evacuation orders for Elliot Lake come from the municipality or the province, while CWFIS maps fire danger every day.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Get ready for what Elliot Lake faces
What to do about the hazards Elliot Lake 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. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Elliot Lake takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Elliot Lake’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’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 Elliot Lake.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Elliot Lake, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Elliot Lake
Does Elliot Lake flood?
Nothing is listed for Elliot Lake on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
Is radon a problem in Elliot Lake?
In Health Canada’s survey, 8.6% of 93 homes tested in Elliot Lake’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
How is Elliot Lake’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Elliot Lake’s Hazard risk grade is A−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is Elliot Lake at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0.1% of the land within 25 km of Elliot Lake has burned since 1986, the last in 2003, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
How big is the earthquake risk in Elliot Lake?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Elliot Lake’s buildings lose $0.006 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
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).