Photo: This image is Image Number 569299 at Mushroom Observer , a source for mycological images. · CC BY-SA 3.0Wildfire low, radon 5%: how Hill Park stands on hazards
Wildfire isn’t Hill Park’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 Hill Park, near the typical $0.030. Hill Park grades B+ for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Hill Park’s hazards
For Hill Park, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Hill Park faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Hill Park: B+
Two inputs always count for Hill Park, 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 Hill Park: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Hill Park’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Around Hill Park fire takes 0.000% of the land in a typical year, the typical Canadian town 0.000%, which is low.
Forest fuel is scarce around Hill Park: 0% of the land within 5 km, 1.1% 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
Near-zero burning puts Hill Park 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.
Hill Park 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 Hill Park
Flood studies whose area touches Hill Park, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Nationally, Hill Park has no listed flood study; the municipality is the place to ask.
Towns with a flood study on file
69% of towns in Ontario have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Hill Park is not yet one of them.
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 Hill Park 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.”
Earthquakes cost buildings in Hill Park $0.044 per $1,000 a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Hill Park’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
Earthquake risk around Hill Park ($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.
Hill Park 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 Hill Park 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
5% of homes tested around Hill Park are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Measured across the City of Hamilton Health Unit: radon tests
The survey area of Hill Park reads 5%, a shade from 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 Hill Park 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 Hill Park 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.
A low area share in Hill Park doesn’t clear a house, nor does a high one condemn it: test.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Hill Park
Alerts for Hill Park 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. |
Evacuation orders for Hill Park come from the municipality or the province, while CWFIS maps fire danger every day.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Hill Park’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hill Park | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Balfour 4,171 · 0.8 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Greeningdon 3,296 · 0.9 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Bruleville 4,310 · 1.1 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Burkholme 3,580 · 1.2 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Inch Park 4,065 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Centremount 4,053 · 1.4 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
The neighbour with the most fire is Balfour (low), still no more than Hill Park (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Hill Park faces
What to do about the hazards Hill Park 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
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Hill Park’s included.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Hill Park takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- 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 Hill Park.
- 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 Hill Park.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Hill Park
Is Hill Park at risk of wildfire?
Hardly at all on record: 0% of the land within 25 km of Hill Park since 1986, a low band, though small grass fires aren’t mapped.
How is Hill Park’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Hill Park B+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
How big is the earthquake risk in Hill Park?
About $0.044 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Hill Park.
Does Hill Park flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Hill Park’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
Is radon a problem in Hill Park?
Around Hill Park, 100 survey homes were tested and 5% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
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).