Hazards in Buchanan: wildfire low, radon over the guideline in 5% of tested homes
The national fire record shows next to nothing around Buchanan, 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). NRCan expects $0.044 of shaking damage a year per $1,000 of buildings in Buchanan, near the typical $0.030. Hazard risk gives Buchanan a grade of B+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Buchanan’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Buchanan: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Buchanan faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Buchanan: B+
Two inputs always count for Buchanan, 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.
Few fires near Buchanan: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Buchanan’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
With 0.000% burned a year, Buchanan is among the many low-band places (the typical Canadian town 0.000%).
Around Buchanan the forest is thin or far off: 0.6% of the land within 5 km and 1.8% within 25 km is forest fuel.
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 Buchanan 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.
92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are in the low band and 7.5% above it; Buchanan is among the many where the yearly burn rate rounds to zero.
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 Buchanan
Flood studies whose area touches Buchanan, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
NRCan’s inventory is silent on Buchanan, so any flood map would be the municipality’s own.
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Ontario reaches 69% of towns, beside 58% across Canada, but not Buchanan.
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 Buchanan.
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 Buchanan $0.044 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.
Buchanan’s $0.044 is close to the typical town’s $0.030 (1.5 times as much).
Nobody publishes earthquake risk for Buchanan alone, so this card uses the figure for the city of Hamilton.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Buchanan’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.
Buchanan sits above most of Canada’s 2,611 towns on earthquake risk; 32% are higher.
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 Buchanan’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).
5% of homes tested around Buchanan are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
5% of tested homes around Buchanan were over the guideline, much like the typical Canadian town at 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The median in Ontario is 4% over 200 Bq/m³; the survey area around Buchanan has 5%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
A middling share of high tests puts Buchanan with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, below 26% of them.
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.
A survey sample isn’t a map: any home in Buchanan can be high, and a three-month test is the only way to know.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Area behind the radon tests figures: the City of Hamilton Health Unit
Weather and fire alerts for Buchanan
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Buchanan; 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 Buchanan, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Buchanan
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buchanan | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Westcliffe East 2,832 · 0.9 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Rolston 6,124 · 1.0 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Gilbert 3,181 · 1.2 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Balfour 4,171 · 1.4 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Kirkendall South 3,033 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Greeningdon 3,296 · 1.8 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
Westcliffe East (low) has the heaviest fire record of Buchanan’s neighbours, and Buchanan (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Buchanan faces
What to do about the hazards Buchanan 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
- 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 Buchanan.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Buchanan’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Buchanan takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Buchanan’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Buchanan
Is Buchanan at risk of wildfire?
Hardly at all on record: 0% of the land within 25 km of Buchanan since 1986, a low band, though small grass fires aren’t mapped.
How is Buchanan’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Buchanan’s Hazard risk grade is B+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Does Buchanan flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Buchanan’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
How big is the earthquake risk in Buchanan?
About $0.044 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Buchanan.
Is radon a problem in Buchanan?
Around Buchanan, 100 survey homes were tested and 5% 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).