Photo: Tiresident · CC BY-SA 3.0Hazard risk in Front of Yonge is higher than in 89% of Canadian towns
Wildfire barely registers for Front of Yonge, at 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). Earthquakes add more: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.060 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. In Health Canada’s survey, 19% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Front of Yonge grades D for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Front of Yonge’s hazards
For Front of Yonge, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Front of Yonge faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Front of Yonge grades D for hazard risk
Earthquake risk and radon make Front of Yonge’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
Its place: #849 of 866 in Ontario and #2,464 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Few fires near Front of Yonge: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Past fire around Front of Yonge’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Front of Yonge burns at 0.000% a year, low against 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Forest crowds in on Front of Yonge: 13% of the land within 5 km is forest fuel, more than the 8.3% 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
Near-zero burning puts Front of Yonge with 638 of the 871 towns in Ontario, far below Sioux Lookout 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.
The low band holds 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, and Front of Yonge sits at its very bottom; only 7.5% are 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.
Cataraqui Region Conservation Authority has mapped flooding for Front of Yonge (1 study)
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Front of Yonge: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Cataraqui Region Conservation Authority studied flooding in an area that includes Front of Yonge (2024); open its map to see which streets lie in a flood zone.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cataraqui Region Conservation Authority from Kingston to Brockville | Cataraqui Region Conservation Authority | 2024 | final · not public |
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Ontario reaches 69% of towns, Front of Yonge included, beside 58% across Canada.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Front of Yonge.
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.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Front of Yonge $0.060 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Front of Yonge’s $0.060 is about 2 times the typical town’s $0.030: it sits in one of Canada’s more active seismic zones.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.060, Front of Yonge is above the typical town in Ontario ($0.043); Alexandria has the most 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.
More earthquake risk than most: only 29% of Canada’s 2,611 towns are above Front of Yonge.
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 Front of Yonge.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
19% of homes tested around Front of Yonge are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Source area for radon tests: the Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit
A higher share than most: 19% of tested homes around Front of Yonge, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Front of Yonge, 19% of tests were over 200 Bq/m³ and 1.9% 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.
4.6% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have a higher share of homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Front of Yonge, in the 10–20% band with 22%.
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.
Radon varies from house to house in Front of Yonge, so the survey is a reason to test, not a result for yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Front of Yonge
Alerts for Front of Yonge 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 Front of Yonge 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)
Hazards in the places around Front of Yonge
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Front of Yonge | Low | $0.060 | 19% | Yes |
| Elizabethtown-Kitley 9,886 · 13 km | Low | $0.085 | 19% | Yes |
| Athens 3,078 · 15 km | Low | $0.067 | 19% | None listed |
| Brockville 23,720 · 15 km | Low | $0.077 | 19% | Yes |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Front of Yonge (low); Elizabethtown-Kitley comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Front of Yonge faces
Practical steps for Front of Yonge’s hazards, most pressing first.
- 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. For Front of Yonge, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Front of Yonge’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Front of Yonge without grading them.
- Radon is a survey. Radon figures pool the survey’s home tests by area: postal areas once their boundaries arrive, the 2007 health region around Front of Yonge until then.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Front of Yonge
Is radon a problem in Front of Yonge?
19% of the 108 homes Health Canada tested around Front of Yonge topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
Does Front of Yonge flood?
A flood study covers Front of Yonge on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
How is Front of Yonge’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Front of Yonge’s Hazard risk grade is D, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is Front of Yonge at risk of wildfire?
No meaningful wildfire history near Front of Yonge: 0% of nearby land since 1986, band low.
How big is the earthquake risk in Front of Yonge?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Front of Yonge $0.060 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
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).