Photo: Umbra Lab, Inc. · CC BY 4.0Frontenac Islands is on Canada’s flood inventory: 1 listed, led by Cataraqui Region Conservation Authority
Fire has left almost no mark near Frontenac Islands: 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. NRCan expects $0.042 of shaking damage a year per $1,000 of buildings in Frontenac Islands, near the typical $0.030. More homes than usual carry radon here, 11% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Frontenac Islands a grade of C, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Frontenac Islands’s hazards
For Frontenac Islands, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Frontenac Islands faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Frontenac Islands: C
Two inputs always count for Frontenac Islands, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
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.
Wildfire is rare near Frontenac Islands: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Frontenac Islands’ residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Frontenac Islands burns at 0.000% a year, low against 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Close to Frontenac Islands there is little to burn (1.4% forest fuel within 5 km), but 5.3% of the land within 25 km is forest.
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 872
Of the 872 towns in Ontario, 639 have a burn rate that rounds to zero, Frontenac Islands among them; Sioux Lookout leads at 0.16% a year.
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.
Measured against 2,610 towns, Frontenac Islands is in the largest group, low (92%), and at its floor, while 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.
Frontenac Islands is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Cataraqui Region Conservation Authority
Flood studies whose area touches Frontenac Islands, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
A 2024 study by Cataraqui Region Conservation Authority covers Frontenac Islands, and its map, not the inventory, shows the zones.
| 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
Its flood study puts Frontenac Islands 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.
Nothing here counts toward Risk; the studies are pointers to the maps their owners keep for Frontenac Islands.
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 Frontenac Islands $0.042 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.
With $0.042 of shaking damage a year per $1,000, Frontenac Islands is about even with the typical $0.030 (1.4 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Typical for its province: Frontenac Islands at $0.042 beside a median in Ontario of $0.043, with Alexandria on top 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.
Frontenac Islands sits mid-range among Canada’s 2,611 towns: 43% expect more shaking damage.
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 Frontenac Islands 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).
Radon runs high around Frontenac Islands: 11% of tested homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Radon tests for the Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox and Addington Health Unit
Frontenac Islands’ survey area reads 11% over the guideline, well past the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Frontenac Islands’ area, at 11%, is above the median in Ontario (4%), and 1% 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.
One test in ten or more tops the guideline around Frontenac Islands, as in 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 4.6% go higher.
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.
Whatever Frontenac Islands’ area share, the reading that matters is your own home’s, over a winter.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Frontenac Islands
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Frontenac Islands; 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. |
Smoke and fire warnings for Frontenac Islands come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Frontenac Islands’ neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frontenac Islands | Low | $0.042 | 11% | Yes |
| Kingston 149,527 · 15 km | Low | $0.044 | 11% | Yes |
Among its neighbours Frontenac Islands has the most fire on record (low); Kingston follows (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Frontenac Islands faces
What to do about the hazards Frontenac Islands 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
- Radon is a survey. The radon share comes from about 14,000 long-term home tests in 2009–2011, pooled for now by the 2007 health region Frontenac Islands sits in.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. A study’s area can be a whole watershed or province, so being on the inventory says a map exists, not that a home in Frontenac Islands floods.
- 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 Frontenac Islands.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Frontenac Islands’ included.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Frontenac Islands
Does Frontenac Islands flood?
Frontenac Islands’ area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
How is Frontenac Islands’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Frontenac Islands’ Hazard risk grade is C, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
How big is the earthquake risk in Frontenac Islands?
About $0.042 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Frontenac Islands.
Is Frontenac Islands at risk of wildfire?
Very little by the national record: Frontenac Islands’ band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Is radon a problem in Frontenac Islands?
Around Frontenac Islands, 99 survey homes were tested and 11% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
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).