Photo: JFVoll · CC BY-SA 4.0Gilbert’s hazards at a glance: a low wildfire record and 5% of area homes over the radon guideline
For Gilbert, wildfire history is close to nil: 0% of nearby land since 1986, 0.000% a year. Earthquake risk in Gilbert 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 Gilbert a grade of B+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Gilbert’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Gilbert: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Gilbert faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Gilbert: B+
Two inputs always count for Gilbert, 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: 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.
Wildfire is rare near Gilbert: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Gilbert’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
In a typical year 0.000% of the land near Gilbert burns; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%, and both are low.
Around Gilbert the forest is thin or far off: 0.4% of the land within 5 km and 1.7% 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 Gilbert 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.
Like most of Canada’s 2,610 towns (92%), Gilbert 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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Gilbert
Flood studies whose area touches Gilbert, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
The inventory has nothing for Gilbert, but a local or conservation-authority map may still exist.
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are common in Ontario, 69% of towns against 58% nationally, but none in the inventory touches Gilbert.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood mapping is shown for Gilbert to be opened and checked, never turned into a grade.
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 Gilbert: $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.
Gilbert’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
The median in Ontario is $0.043; Gilbert, 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.
More earthquake risk than most: only 32% of Canada’s 2,611 towns are above Gilbert.
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 Gilbert’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). · Earthquake risk published for the city of Hamilton, not by town
Radon about average around Gilbert: 5% over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Source area for radon tests: the City of Hamilton Health Unit
Around Gilbert, 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 Gilbert 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 Gilbert 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.
Basements, soil and how a house is sealed decide its radon, so in Gilbert only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Gilbert
Alerts for Gilbert 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 Gilbert 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 Gilbert’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gilbert | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Fessenden 3,551 · 0.9 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Westcliffe East 2,832 · 1.0 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Gilkson 2,963 · 1.0 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Rolston 6,124 · 1.1 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Buchanan 3,006 · 1.2 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Gurnett 4,582 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Gilbert (low); Fessenden comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Gilbert faces
What to do about the hazards Gilbert 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
- Radon is a survey. The radon share comes from about 14,000 long-term home tests in 2009–2011, pooled for now by the 2007 health region Gilbert sits in.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Gilbert’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. A study’s area can be a whole watershed or province, so being on the inventory says a map exists, not that a home in Gilbert floods.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Gilbert’s figure is its subdivision’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Gilbert
How is Gilbert’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Gilbert’s Hazard risk grade is B+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is radon a problem in Gilbert?
Around Gilbert, 100 survey homes were tested and 5% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Does Gilbert flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Gilbert’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
Is Gilbert at risk of wildfire?
Hardly at all on record: 0% of the land within 25 km of Gilbert since 1986, a low band, though small grass fires aren’t mapped.
How big is the earthquake risk in Gilbert?
Expected earthquake damage in Gilbert comes to $0.044 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
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).