Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domainA flood study covers Binbrook: 5 on the national inventory, the newest from Hamilton Conservation Authority
No wildfire is mapped within 25 km of Binbrook’s homes since 1986 (0% of the land, 0.000% a year). NRCan expects $0.044 of shaking damage a year per $1,000 of buildings in Binbrook, near the typical $0.030. In Health Canada’s survey, 5% of homes tested in Binbrook’s area exceeded 200 Bq/m³, close to the typical 6.6%. Binbrook grades B+ for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Binbrook’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Binbrook: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Binbrook faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Binbrook grades B+ for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Binbrook, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
Its place: #494 of 866 in Ontario and #1,255 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.
Wildfire is rare near Binbrook: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Binbrook’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Binbrook burns at 0.000% a year, low against 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
With 0.4% forest fuel within 5 km and 0.6% within 25 km, the land around Binbrook 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
Among the 871 towns in Ontario, Sioux Lookout burns fastest (0.16% a year); Binbrook 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 Binbrook 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.
Binbrook is on the flood map inventory: 5 studies, latest by Hamilton Conservation Authority
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Binbrook: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
5 studies on the inventory touch Binbrook, the newest Hamilton Conservation Authority’s from 2025, and their areas can be large, so they say maps exist, not that the town floods.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red Hill Creek | Hamilton Conservation Authority | 2025 | final |
| Welland River | Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority | 2018 | final |
| Twenty Mile Creek | Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority | 2007 | final |
| Sinkhole Creek | Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority | 2006 | final |
| BuckhornCreek | Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
69% of towns in Ontario have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Binbrook has one too.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
The busiest decade for flood studies around Binbrook was the 2000s (2 of 4); they run from the 2000s to the 2020s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Binbrook.
Flood mapping is shown for Binbrook 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.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Binbrook $0.044 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Binbrook’s $0.044 is close to the typical town’s $0.030 (1.5 times as much).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Binbrook’s $0.044 is close to the median in Ontario, $0.043; Alexandria is highest 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.
32% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Binbrook, which places it in the upper third.
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 loss is to Binbrook’s buildings alone, from ground shaking; infrastructure and secondary hazards are left out.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean). · Earthquake risk: one figure for all of the city of Hamilton
5% of homes tested around Binbrook are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · The radon tests numbers here cover the City of Hamilton Health Unit
Near the middle for radon: Binbrook’s area 5%, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Binbrook’s area, at 5%, is above the median in Ontario (4%).
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Binbrook is in the 5–10% band with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% have more.
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 Binbrook; 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 Binbrook
Alerts for Binbrook 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 Binbrook 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 Binbrook
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Binbrook | Low | $0.044 | 5% | Yes |
| Trinity 2,708 · 4.0 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | Yes |
| Highland 6,306 · 4.1 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | Yes |
| Valley Park 6,394 · 5.1 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | Yes |
| Felker 4,534 · 5.2 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | Yes |
| Templemead 4,188 · 5.9 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | Yes |
| Albion 4,585 · 6.0 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | Yes |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Binbrook (low); Trinity comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Binbrook faces
What to do about the hazards Binbrook 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
- 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 Binbrook.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Binbrook is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Binbrook’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- 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 Binbrook’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Binbrook
Does Binbrook flood?
There is flood mapping for Binbrook on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
Is radon a problem in Binbrook?
Around Binbrook, 100 survey homes were tested and 5% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How big is the earthquake risk in Binbrook?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Binbrook $0.044 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is Binbrook at risk of wildfire?
No meaningful wildfire history near Binbrook: 0% of nearby land since 1986, band low.
How is Binbrook’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Binbrook’s Hazard risk grade is B+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
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).