Wildfire low, radon 5%: how Homeside stands on hazards
Fire has left almost no mark near Homeside: 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. Seismic risk in Homeside sits near the middle: $0.044 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Hazard risk gives Homeside a grade of B+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Homeside’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Homeside: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Homeside faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Homeside: B+
Earthquake risk and radon make Homeside’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: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Little of the land around Homeside has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Homeside’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
The land within 25 km of Homeside burns at 0.000% a year on average, the low band; the typical Canadian town: 0.000%.
Forest fuel is scarce around Homeside: 0.1% of the land within 5 km, 0.9% 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
Of the 871 towns in Ontario, 638 have a burn rate that rounds to zero, Homeside among them; Sioux Lookout leads at 0.16% a year.
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.
Homeside 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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Homeside
Flood studies whose area touches Homeside, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
There is no study for Homeside on the national flood inventory, which is far from complete.
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Ontario reaches 69% of towns, beside 58% across Canada, but not Homeside.
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 Homeside 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.”
Ordinary seismic risk in Homeside: $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.
With $0.044 of shaking damage a year per $1,000, Homeside is about even with the typical $0.030 (1.5 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Typical for its province: Homeside at $0.044 beside a median in Ontario of $0.043, with Alexandria on top at $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.
Homeside 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 Homeside’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
5% of homes tested around Homeside are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
5% of tested homes around Homeside were over the guideline, much like the typical Canadian town at 6.6%. Nobody publishes radon tests for Homeside alone, so this card uses the figure for the City of Hamilton Health Unit.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Homeside 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.
37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns share Homeside’s band of 5 to 10%; 26% sit 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.
The share describes the area, not a house: in Homeside as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Homeside
Alerts for Homeside 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 Homeside 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 Homeside’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Homeside | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Crown Point East 5,215 · 0.8 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Normanhurst 3,260 · 1.1 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | Yes |
| Bartonville 4,311 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | Yes |
| Crown Point West 6,132 · 1.5 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Delta East 6,186 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Mcquesten West 6,349 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | Yes |
The neighbour with the most fire is Crown Point East (low), still no more than Homeside (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Homeside faces
Practical steps for Homeside’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
- Radon is a survey. The radon share comes from about 14,000 long-term home tests in 2009–2011, pooled for now by the 2007 health region Homeside sits in.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. A study’s area can be a whole watershed or province, so being on the inventory says a map exists, not that a home in Homeside floods.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Homeside’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Homeside’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Homeside
How is Homeside’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Homeside B+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is Homeside at risk of wildfire?
Very little by the national record: Homeside’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Is radon a problem in Homeside?
5% of the 100 homes Health Canada tested around Homeside topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How big is the earthquake risk in Homeside?
About $0.044 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Homeside.
Does Homeside flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Homeside (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
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).