Photo: JFVoll · CC BY-SA 4.0Wildfire low, radon 5%: how Burkholme stands on hazards
The national fire record shows next to nothing around Burkholme, 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). Shaking is about as much of a worry in Burkholme as in most places, at $0.044 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Hazard risk gives Burkholme a grade of B+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Burkholme’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Burkholme: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Burkholme faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Burkholme: B+
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Burkholme with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #494 of 866 in Ontario and #1,255 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Little of the land around Burkholme has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Burkholme’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Burkholme burns at 0.000% a year, low against 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Only 1% of the land within 25 km of Burkholme is forest fuel, and 0.1% close in.
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 Burkholme 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.
Burkholme shares the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, its burn rate rounding to nothing; 7.5% burn faster.
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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Burkholme
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Burkholme: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists no study whose area touches Burkholme, which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped.
Towns with a flood study on file
Missing from a well-mapped province: Burkholme has no study, where 69% of towns in Ontario have one against 58% nationally.
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 Burkholme.
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.”
Expected shaking damage in Burkholme: $0.044 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
With $0.044 of shaking damage a year per $1,000, Burkholme is about even with the typical $0.030 (1.5 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The median in Ontario is $0.043; Burkholme, at $0.044, is right beside it, and Alexandria tops the list 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.
Burkholme 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 model counts damage to Burkholme’s buildings and their occupants from shaking only: not liquefaction, landslides, tsunami or fires after a quake.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean). · Not measured by town: earthquake risk (the city of Hamilton)
Some radon around Burkholme: 5% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
At 5% over the guideline, the area around Burkholme is about level with the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
More homes top the guideline around Burkholme (5%) than in the typical town in Ontario (4%).
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 Burkholme 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 Burkholme 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). · Radon tests: one figure for all of the City of Hamilton Health Unit
Weather and fire alerts for Burkholme
Alerts for Burkholme 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 Burkholme 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 Burkholme
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Burkholme | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Macassa 2,584 · 0.9 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Eastmount 4,496 · 1.2 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Hampton Heights 3,498 · 1.2 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Hill Park 3,262 · 1.2 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Lawfield 6,021 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Bruleville 4,310 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
Among its neighbours Burkholme has the most fire on record (low); Macassa follows (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Burkholme faces
What to do about the hazards Burkholme 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
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Burkholme’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Burkholme without grading them.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Burkholme’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- 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 Burkholme until then.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Burkholme
Is Burkholme at risk of wildfire?
The burned-area record shows next to nothing around Burkholme (0% within 25 km since 1986), so its band is low.
Does Burkholme flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Burkholme’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
How big is the earthquake risk in Burkholme?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Burkholme $0.044 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
How is Burkholme’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Burkholme B+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is radon a problem in Burkholme?
Around Burkholme, 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).