Photo: JFVoll · CC BY-SA 4.0Hazards in Fessenden: wildfire low, radon over the guideline in 5% of tested homes
Fire has left almost no mark near Fessenden: 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. For earthquakes Fessenden is middling, $0.044 a year per $1,000 against $0.030 for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Fessenden a grade of B+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Fessenden’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Fessenden: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Fessenden faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Fessenden grades B+ for hazard risk
Seismic risk and radon set Fessenden’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of 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 Fessenden has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Fessenden’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Next to the typical Canadian town (0.000% a year), Fessenden’s 0.000% is in the low band.
Only 1.8% of the land within 25 km of Fessenden is forest fuel, and 0.7% 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
To three decimals the burn rate around Fessenden is zero, as for 638 of the 871 towns in Ontario, while Sioux Lookout reaches 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.
The low band holds 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, and Fessenden 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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Fessenden
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Fessenden: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
No flood study on the national inventory covers Fessenden; ask the municipality, which is the authority for its flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Missing from a well-mapped province: Fessenden 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.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Fessenden floods.
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 Fessenden: $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, Fessenden is about even with the typical $0.030 (1.5 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Shaking damage around Fessenden 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.
In the upper part of Canada’s range: 32% of its 2,611 towns expect more damage than Fessenden.
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 Fessenden’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). · Area behind the earthquake risk figures: the city of Hamilton
Some radon around Fessenden: 5% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Source area for radon tests: the City of Hamilton Health Unit
At 5% over the guideline, the area around Fessenden is about level with the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Fessenden than in most towns in Ontario: 5% against 4%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Radon tops the guideline in a modest share of homes around Fessenden, a band holding 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% rank above.
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 Fessenden; 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 Fessenden
Alerts for Fessenden 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 Fessenden 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)
How Fessenden’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fessenden | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Mountview 7,752 · 0.8 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Gurnett 4,582 · 0.9 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Gilbert 3,181 · 0.9 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Gilkson 2,963 · 1.2 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Westcliffe East 2,832 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Falkirk East 4,961 · 1.9 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | Yes |
Mountview (low) has the heaviest fire record of Fessenden’s neighbours, and Fessenden (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Fessenden faces
Practical steps for Fessenden’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. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Fessenden without grading them.
- 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 Fessenden’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 Fessenden until then.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Fessenden’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Fessenden
How big is the earthquake risk in Fessenden?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Fessenden’s buildings lose $0.044 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is Fessenden at risk of wildfire?
Very little by the national record: Fessenden’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Does Fessenden flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Fessenden, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
Is radon a problem in Fessenden?
The area’s survey found 5% of 100 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Fessenden.
How is Fessenden’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Fessenden grades B+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
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).