Photo: JFVoll · CC BY-SA 4.0Wildfire low, radon 5%: how Highway Valley stands on hazards
Wildfire isn’t Highway Valley’s worry: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (0.000% a year). Seismic risk in Highway Valley sits near the middle: $0.044 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Highway Valley grades B+ for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Highway Valley’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Highway Valley: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Highway Valley faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Highway Valley: B+
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Highway Valley with little fire nearby would get no credit for 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.
Wildfire is rare near Highway Valley: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Highway Valley’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Forty years of fire maps put Highway Valley at 0.000% a year, low next to the typical Canadian town’s 0.000%.
Forest makes up 0.2% of the land within 5 km of Highway Valley 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
Near-zero burning puts Highway Valley 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.
Most of the country’s 2,610 towns are low-band (92%, against 7.5% above); around Highway Valley, burning rounds to zero.
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 Highway Valley
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Highway Valley: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The inventory has nothing for Highway Valley, but a local or conservation-authority map may still exist.
Towns with a flood study on file
Missing from a well-mapped province: Highway Valley 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.
Flood mapping is shown for Highway Valley 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.”
Earthquakes cost buildings in Highway Valley $0.044 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.044 per $1,000, Highway Valley’s earthquake risk is about the typical Canadian town’s ($0.030; 1.5 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk around Highway Valley ($0.044) matches the middle in Ontario ($0.043), far from Alexandria’s $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.
Highway Valley 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).
The model counts damage to Highway Valley’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: the city of Hamilton
Radon about average around Highway Valley: 5% over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Highway Valley’s area sits close to the typical Canadian town: 5% over the guideline, against 6.6%. Highway Valley doesn’t get its own radon tests figures; the ones here come from the City of Hamilton Health Unit.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Highway Valley than in most towns in Ontario: 5% against 4%.
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 Highway Valley 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.
The share describes the area, not a house: in Highway Valley as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Highway Valley
Alerts for Highway Valley 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 Highway Valley 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 Highway Valley’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Highway Valley | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Poplar Park 3,031 · 1.4 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Guernsey 3,808 · 1.4 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Westmeria 2,646 · 1.5 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Fruitland 7,653 · 1.6 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | Yes |
| Eastdale 2,703 · 2.1 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Riverdale East 3,416 · 2.5 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Highway Valley (low); Poplar Park comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Highway Valley faces
What to do about the hazards Highway Valley 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. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Highway Valley 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 Highway Valley.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Highway Valley’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Highway Valley’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Highway Valley
Is Highway Valley at risk of wildfire?
Very little by the national record: Highway Valley’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Does Highway Valley flood?
Nothing is listed for Highway Valley on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
Is radon a problem in Highway Valley?
In Health Canada’s survey, 5% of 100 homes tested in Highway Valley’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
How is Highway Valley’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Highway Valley’s Hazard risk grade is B+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
How big is the earthquake risk in Highway Valley?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Highway Valley $0.044 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
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).