Flood mapping exists for Highland: 2 on record, latest by Hamilton Conservation Authority
Fire has left almost no mark near Highland: 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. Shaking is about as much of a worry in Highland as in most places, at $0.044 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Radon around Highland is ordinary for Canada: 5% of tested homes over the guideline (6.6% typical). Hazard risk gives Highland a grade of B+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Highland’s hazards
For Highland, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Highland faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Highland: B+
For Highland, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
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. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Wildfire is rare near Highland: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Highland’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Low: the land around Highland burns at 0.000% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Forest makes up 0.2% of the land within 5 km of Highland and 0.5% within 25 km, little for a forest fire to run through.
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 Highland, 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.
Like most of Canada’s 2,610 towns (92%), Highland 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.
2 flood studies cover Highland, the newest from Hamilton Conservation Authority
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Highland: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The newest of 2 studies covering Highland is Hamilton Conservation Authority’s, from 2025; open its map to see the zones.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red Hill Creek | Hamilton Conservation Authority | 2025 | final |
| Sinkhole Creek | Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority | 2006 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are common in Ontario: 69% of towns have one, against 58% nationally, and Highland is among them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood mapping around Highland has come in steps: 2 studies from the 2000s to the 2020s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Highland.
Flood mapping is shown for Highland 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.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Highland $0.044 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
1.5 times the typical $0.030: Highland’s $0.044 is ordinary.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Shaking damage around Highland 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.
Highland sits above most of Canada’s 2,611 towns on earthquake risk; 32% are higher.
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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in Highland is counted; landslides, liquefaction, tsunami and fire after a quake aren’t.
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
Radon about average around Highland: 5% over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
5% of tested homes around Highland were over the guideline, much like the typical Canadian town at 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 Highland has 5%.
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 Highland, 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.
Neighbouring homes in Highland can differ a lot; only a long-term test tells you about yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Area behind the radon tests figures: the City of Hamilton Health Unit
Where to get warnings in Highland
Alerts for Highland 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 Highland 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 Highland’s neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
Felker (low) has the heaviest fire record of Highland’s neighbours, and Highland (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Highland faces
Practical steps for Highland’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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Wildfire counts one way. Burned land within 25 km of where people live, averaged over 1986–2025 and checked for fuel near homes, is the measure; it looks back, not ahead, and only ever counts against Highland.
- 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 Highland until then.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Highland without grading them.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Highland’s included.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Highland
Is Highland at risk of wildfire?
Hardly at all on record: 0% of the land within 25 km of Highland since 1986, a low band, though small grass fires aren’t mapped.
How is Highland’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Highland B+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Does Highland flood?
A flood study covers Highland on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
How big is the earthquake risk in Highland?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Highland $0.044 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is radon a problem in Highland?
The area’s survey found 5% of 100 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Highland.
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).