Photo: Deconstructhis · Public domainHazards in Exeter: wildfire low, radon over the guideline in 11% of tested homes
Burn scars are few around Exeter, with 0.1% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.002% a year). Earthquakes matter little: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.014 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Exeter grades B for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Exeter’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Exeter: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Exeter faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Exeter: B
Two inputs always count for Exeter, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
Its place: #629 of 866 in Ontario and #1,445 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 Exeter has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0.1% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Exeter’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Exeter burns at 0.002% a year, low against 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
With 0.9% forest fuel within 5 km and 0.9% within 25 km, the land around Exeter gives a fire little to burn.
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
At 0.002% a year, Exeter is near the top in Ontario: 54th of 871, behind Sioux Lookout (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.
7.5% of Canada’s 2,610 towns burn fast enough to rank moderate or above; Exeter stays low, with 92%.
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 Exeter
Flood studies whose area touches Exeter, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
The inventory has nothing for Exeter, but a local or conservation-authority map may still exist.
Towns with a flood study on file
69% of towns in Ontario have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Exeter is not yet one of them.
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 Exeter 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.”
Earthquakes cost buildings in Exeter just $0.014 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.
0.5 times the typical $0.030: Exeter’s $0.014 is low for Canada.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Below the middle in Ontario: Exeter’s $0.014 against a median of $0.043; Alexandria has $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.
73% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Exeter.
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 Exeter’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).
11% of homes tested around Exeter are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
A higher share than most: 11% of tested homes around Exeter, the typical Canadian town 6.6%. Exeter doesn’t get its own radon tests figures; the ones here come from the Huron County Health Unit.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Exeter, 11% of tests were over 200 Bq/m³ and 0.9% over 600, against a median of 4% in Ontario.
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, Exeter 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.
The survey sampled homes around Exeter; 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 Exeter
Alerts for Exeter 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 Exeter 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)
Hazards in the places around Exeter
The same four hazards for the places next door.
Nowhere around Exeter burns more: Bayfield, 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 Exeter faces
What to do about the hazards Exeter 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. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Exeter’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- 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 Exeter.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Exeter takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- 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 Exeter’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Exeter
How big is the earthquake risk in Exeter?
About $0.014 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Exeter.
Does Exeter flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Exeter’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
Is radon a problem in Exeter?
Around Exeter, 106 survey homes were tested and 11% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Is Exeter at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0.1% of the land around Exeter since 1986 (last in 2006); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How is Exeter’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Exeter B, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
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).