Wildfire low, radon 5%: how Gurnett stands on hazards
The burned-area map is nearly blank around Gurnett, 0% within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. Earthquake risk in Gurnett 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 Gurnett a grade of B+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Gurnett’s hazards
For Gurnett, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Gurnett faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Gurnett grades B+ for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Gurnett, 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: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Wildfire is rare near Gurnett: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Gurnett’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
At 0.000% of the land a year, Gurnett’s burn rate is in the low band; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Little near Gurnett’s homes can carry a forest fire; only 0.6% of the land within 5 km is forest fuel, and 1.7% 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
To three decimals the burn rate around Gurnett 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.
Gurnett 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 Gurnett
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Gurnett: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The inventory has nothing for Gurnett, but a local or conservation-authority map may still exist.
Towns with a flood study on file
Gurnett 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 Gurnett.
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.”
Earthquakes cost buildings in Gurnett $0.044 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Earthquake losses in Gurnett, $0.044 per $1,000, are in line with the typical $0.030 (1.5 times).
Nobody publishes earthquake risk for Gurnett alone, so this card uses the figure for the city of Hamilton.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
About level with the typical town in Ontario: Gurnett’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 Gurnett, 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).
What a quake does after the shaking, fire, landslides, tsunami, falls outside NRCan’s figure for Gurnett.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Some radon around Gurnett: 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 Gurnett is about level with the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Gurnett’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.
26% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have more homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Gurnett’s 5–10% band, which holds 37%.
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.
Whatever Gurnett’s area share, the reading that matters is your own home’s, over a winter.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Gurnett
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Gurnett; 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. |
For fires near Gurnett, the national fire information system maps danger and active fires daily; local authorities give any evacuation order.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Gurnett’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gurnett | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Gilkson 2,963 · 0.8 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Fessenden 3,551 · 0.9 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Lampman 5,663 · 1.1 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Falkirk East 4,961 · 1.1 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | Yes |
| Gilbert 3,181 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Mountview 7,752 · 1.6 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
Fire is no heavier anywhere nearby than around Gurnett (low), with Gilkson next at low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Gurnett faces
What to do about the hazards Gurnett 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
- Wildfire counts one way. For Gurnett, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Gurnett is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- 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 Gurnett.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Gurnett’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
Questions about flooding and hazards in Gurnett
Does Gurnett flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Gurnett’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
How big is the earthquake risk in Gurnett?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Gurnett $0.044 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is Gurnett at risk of wildfire?
No meaningful wildfire history near Gurnett: 0% of nearby land since 1986, band low.
Is radon a problem in Gurnett?
Around Gurnett, 100 survey homes were tested and 5% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How is Gurnett’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Gurnett B+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
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).