Hazards in Greeningdon: wildfire low, radon over the guideline in 5% of tested homes
Wildfire isn’t Greeningdon’s worry: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (0.000% a year). NRCan expects $0.044 of shaking damage a year per $1,000 of buildings in Greeningdon, near the typical $0.030. Greeningdon grades B+ for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Greeningdon’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Greeningdon: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Greeningdon faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Greeningdon grades B+ for hazard risk
Earthquake risk and radon make Greeningdon’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.
Little of the land around Greeningdon has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Greeningdon’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Low: the land around Greeningdon burns at 0.000% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Land that isn’t forest covers nearly all the ground around Greeningdon: forest fuel is 0% within 5 km and 1.2% within 25 km.
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
Fire has taken almost none of the land around Greeningdon, as for 638 of the 871 towns in Ontario; Sioux Lookout tops the list 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.
Measured against 2,610 towns, Greeningdon is in the largest group, low (92%), and at its floor, while 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 Greeningdon
Flood studies whose area touches Greeningdon, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
The inventory has nothing for Greeningdon, but a local or conservation-authority map may still exist.
Towns with a flood study on file
Missing from a well-mapped province: Greeningdon 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 Greeningdon 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.”
Ordinary seismic risk in Greeningdon: $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.
1.5 times the typical $0.030: Greeningdon’s $0.044 is ordinary.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
About level with the typical town in Ontario: Greeningdon’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.
32% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Greeningdon, which places it in the upper third.
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 Greeningdon’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: one figure for all of the city of Hamilton
Some radon around Greeningdon: 5% of area homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Area-wide: radon tests, counted over the City of Hamilton Health Unit
Around Greeningdon, 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 Greeningdon 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: Greeningdon, 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.
Basements, soil and how a house is sealed decide its radon, so in Greeningdon only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Greeningdon
Alerts for Greeningdon 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 Greeningdon to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Greeningdon’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greeningdon | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Balfour 4,171 · 0.7 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Hill Park 3,262 · 0.9 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Jerome 2,820 · 0.9 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Bruleville 4,310 · 0.9 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Rolston 6,124 · 1.5 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Crerar 2,877 · 1.5 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Greeningdon (low); Balfour comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Greeningdon faces
Practical steps for Greeningdon’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
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Greeningdon’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- 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 Greeningdon’s.
- 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 Greeningdon.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Greeningdon takes its 2007 health region’s share.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Greeningdon
Does Greeningdon flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Greeningdon (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
How big is the earthquake risk in Greeningdon?
About $0.044 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Greeningdon.
Is radon a problem in Greeningdon?
5% of the 100 homes Health Canada tested around Greeningdon topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How is Greeningdon’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Greeningdon’s Hazard risk grade is B+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is Greeningdon at risk of wildfire?
Hardly at all on record: 0% of the land within 25 km of Greeningdon since 1986, a low band, though small grass fires aren’t mapped.
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).