Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0Hazards in Georgian Bluffs: wildfire low, radon over the guideline in 11% of tested homes
For Georgian Bluffs, wildfire history is close to nil: 0% of nearby land since 1986, 0.000% a year. Shaking is less of a worry than in most places, at $0.012 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Hazard risk gives Georgian Bluffs a grade of B+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Georgian Bluffs’s hazards
For Georgian Bluffs, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Georgian Bluffs faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Georgian Bluffs grades B+ for hazard risk
Earthquake risk and radon make Georgian Bluffs’ grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
Its place: #605 of 866 in Ontario and #1,387 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 Georgian Bluffs: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Past fire around Georgian Bluffs’ homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Low: the land around Georgian Bluffs burns at 0.000% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
There is forest near Georgian Bluffs’ homes (11% within 5 km) and more of it further out (16% 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
Among the 871 towns in Ontario, Sioux Lookout burns fastest (0.16% a year); Georgian Bluffs is with the 638 near zero.
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 Georgian Bluffs 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.
No flood study is listed for Georgian Bluffs
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Georgian Bluffs: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
No flood study on the national inventory covers Georgian Bluffs; ask the municipality, which is the authority for its flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are common in Ontario, 69% of towns against 58% nationally, but none in the inventory touches Georgian Bluffs.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Georgian Bluffs’ homes stand in a flood zone.
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 Georgian Bluffs just $0.012 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Shaking costs the typical town $0.030 a year; in Georgian Bluffs it is only $0.012, 0.4 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Below the middle in Ontario: Georgian Bluffs’ $0.012 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.
84% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Georgian Bluffs.
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 Georgian Bluffs 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).
11% of homes tested around Georgian Bluffs are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Georgian Bluffs’ area, at 11%, is above the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town, so testing is worth more here than most places. Figures for radon tests are published for the Grey Bruce Health Unit as a whole, not for Georgian Bluffs alone.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
More homes top the guideline around Georgian Bluffs (11%) than in the typical town in Ontario (4%); 1% went over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Georgian Bluffs is in the 10–20% band, with 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; only 4.6% are 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 Georgian Bluffs’ 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 Georgian Bluffs
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Georgian Bluffs; 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. |
In fire season, check CWFIS for danger and active fires around Georgian Bluffs, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Georgian Bluffs
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Georgian Bluffs | Low | $0.012 | 11% | None listed |
| Owen Sound 24,075 · 6.9 km | Low | $0.007 | 11% | None listed |
| Wiarton 9,799 · 16 km | Low | $0.013 | 11% | Yes |
The neighbour with the most fire is Owen Sound (low), still no more than Georgian Bluffs (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Georgian Bluffs faces
Practical steps for Georgian Bluffs’ 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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Georgian Bluffs’ census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Georgian Bluffs is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. NRCan’s inventory says where flood mapping exists, not where water goes; the map’s owner is the authority for Georgian Bluffs.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Georgian Bluffs, 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 Georgian Bluffs
Is Georgian Bluffs at risk of wildfire?
Hardly at all on record: 0% of the land within 25 km of Georgian Bluffs since 1986, a low band, though small grass fires aren’t mapped.
How is Georgian Bluffs’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Georgian Bluffs grades B+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Georgian Bluffs?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Georgian Bluffs $0.012 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is radon a problem in Georgian Bluffs?
The area’s survey found 11% of 98 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Georgian Bluffs.
Does Georgian Bluffs flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Georgian Bluffs, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
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).