Photo: JFVoll · CC BY-SA 4.0Wildfire low, radon 5%: how Centremount stands on hazards
Fire has left almost no mark near Centremount: 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. Shaking is about as much of a worry in Centremount as in most places, at $0.044 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Centremount grades B+ for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Centremount’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Centremount: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Centremount faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Centremount: B+
Earthquake risk and radon make Centremount’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
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 Centremount: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Centremount’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Low by Canadian standards: 0.000% of the land a year around Centremount, 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Around Centremount the forest is thin or far off: 0.1% of the land within 5 km and 1.6% 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
Among the 871 towns in Ontario, Sioux Lookout burns fastest (0.16% a year); Centremount 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.
Centremount 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.
No flood study is listed for Centremount
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Centremount: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists no study whose area touches Centremount, which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped.
Towns with a flood study on file
Missing from a well-mapped province: Centremount 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 Centremount.
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 Centremount: $0.044 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Centremount’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
Shaking damage around Centremount runs at $0.044 a year, near the $0.043 of the typical town in Ontario; 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.
More earthquake risk than most: only 32% of Canada’s 2,611 towns are above Centremount.
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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Centremount’s figure, nor landslides or tsunami: it is buildings and shaking.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean). · Earthquake risk published for the city of Hamilton, not by town
Radon about average around Centremount: 5% over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Around Centremount, 5% of tested homes topped the guideline, near the typical Canadian town’s 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 Centremount has 5%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Between 5% and 10% of tests over the guideline: Centremount, and 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% 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.
A survey sample isn’t a map: any home in Centremount 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). · Data for radon tests covers the City of Hamilton Health Unit
Weather and fire alerts for Centremount
Alerts for Centremount 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. |
Alert Ready carries evacuation orders for Centremount to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Centremount’s neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Centremount | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Corktown 8,952 · 1.2 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Inch Park 4,065 · 1.2 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Balfour 4,171 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Hill Park 3,262 · 1.4 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Durand 13,338 · 1.4 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Stinson 3,969 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
Among its neighbours Centremount has the most fire on record (low); Corktown follows (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Centremount faces
Practical steps for Centremount’s 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
- 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 Centremount.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Centremount’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Centremount’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Centremount is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Centremount
Is radon a problem in Centremount?
The area’s survey found 5% of 100 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Centremount.
Is Centremount at risk of wildfire?
Hardly at all on record: 0% of the land within 25 km of Centremount since 1986, a low band, though small grass fires aren’t mapped.
Does Centremount flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Centremount, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
How is Centremount’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Centremount 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 Centremount?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Centremount’s buildings lose $0.044 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
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).