Wildfire low, radon 5%: how Garner stands on hazards
Since 1986 almost nothing has burned near Garner: 0% of the land within 25 km, or 0.000% a year. Earthquake risk in Garner is ordinary: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.044 a year per $1,000 of value, close to the typical town’s $0.030. Hazard risk gives Garner a grade of B+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Garner’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Garner: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Garner faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Garner grades B+ for hazard risk
Seismic risk and radon set Garner’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: 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 Garner: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Garner’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Fire claims 0.000% of the land around Garner each year, a low band, with the typical Canadian town at 0.000%.
With 1.1% forest fuel within 5 km and 1.9% within 25 km, the land around Garner 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
Of the 871 towns in Ontario, 638 have a burn rate that rounds to zero, Garner among them; Sioux Lookout leads at 0.16% a year.
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.
Like most of Canada’s 2,610 towns (92%), Garner is in the low band, with a burn rate of zero to three decimals; 7.5% rank higher.
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 Garner
Flood studies whose area touches Garner, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
The inventory has nothing for Garner, but a local or conservation-authority map may still exist.
Towns with a flood study on file
Garner has no flood study on file, though 69% of towns in Ontario do (Canada: 58%).
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 Garner.
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.”
Ordinary seismic risk in Garner: $0.044 per $1,000 of buildings a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Earthquake losses in Garner, $0.044 per $1,000, are in line with the typical $0.030 (1.5 times).
For earthquake risk, the only official count covers all of the city of Hamilton, Garner included.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
About level with the typical town in Ontario: Garner’s $0.044 against $0.043; Alexandria reaches $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 Garner.
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 Garner’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).
Radon about average around Garner: 5% over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Garner’s area sits close to the typical Canadian town: 5% over the guideline, against 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Garner’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.
Between 5% and 10% of tests over the guideline: Garner, 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 Garner 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 published for the City of Hamilton Health Unit, not by town
Weather and fire alerts for Garner
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Garner; 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 Garner, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Garner’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Garner | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Marritt 2,759 · 1.4 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Leeming 2,849 · 1.6 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | Yes |
| Oakes 4,048 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Sulphur Springs 9,404 · 2.0 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Shaver 2,882 · 2.5 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | Yes |
| Horning 4,587 · 2.6 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
Marritt (low) has the heaviest fire record of Garner’s neighbours, and Garner (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Garner faces
Practical steps for Garner’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. The flood inventory points to maps; it is incomplete and not the official source, so ask the municipality about any street in Garner.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Garner’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Garner takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- 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 Garner’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Garner
How big is the earthquake risk in Garner?
Expected earthquake damage in Garner comes to $0.044 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is radon a problem in Garner?
The area’s survey found 5% of 100 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Garner.
How is Garner’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Garner grades B+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is Garner at risk of wildfire?
No meaningful wildfire history near Garner: 0% of nearby land since 1986, band low.
Does Garner flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Garner, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
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).