Horning’s hazards at a glance: a low wildfire record and 5% of area homes over the radon guideline
For Horning, wildfire history is close to nil: 0% of nearby land since 1986, 0.000% a year. Shaking is about as much of a worry in Horning as in most places, at $0.044 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Hazard risk gives Horning a grade of B+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Horning’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Horning: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Horning faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Horning: B+
Seismic risk and radon set Horning’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of 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.
Little of the land around Horning has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Horning’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
At 0.000% of the land a year, Horning’s burn rate is in the low band; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Only 2.1% of the land within 25 km of Horning is forest fuel, and 1.1% close in.
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 Horning 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.
Horning 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 Horning
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Horning: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
There is no study for Horning on the national flood inventory, which is far from complete.
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are common in Ontario, 69% of towns against 58% nationally, but none in the inventory touches Horning.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Horning’s homes stand in a flood zone.
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 Horning: $0.044 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
1.5 times the typical $0.030: Horning’s $0.044 is ordinary.
Figures for earthquake risk are published for the city of Hamilton as a whole, not for Horning alone.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The median in Ontario is $0.043; Horning, at $0.044, is right beside it, and Alexandria tops the list 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.
Horning 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 Horning’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).
Radon about average around Horning: 5% over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Shared with the rest of the City of Hamilton Health Unit: radon tests
Horning’s area sits close to the typical Canadian town: 5% over the guideline, against 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Horning’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.
37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns share Horning’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.
Basements, soil and how a house is sealed decide its radon, so in Horning only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Horning
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Horning; 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 Horning, 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 Horning’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Horning | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Oakes 4,048 · 1.1 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Lampman 5,663 · 1.5 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Gurnett 4,582 · 1.9 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Sulphur Springs 9,404 · 1.9 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Marritt 2,759 · 1.9 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Fessenden 3,551 · 2.2 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
Fire is no heavier anywhere nearby than around Horning (low), with Oakes next at low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Horning faces
Practical steps for Horning’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
- 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 Horning.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Horning’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Horning is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Horning’s figure is its subdivision’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Horning
How big is the earthquake risk in Horning?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Horning $0.044 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Does Horning flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Horning (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
How is Horning’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Horning B+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is radon a problem in Horning?
5% of the 100 homes Health Canada tested around Horning topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
Is Horning at risk of wildfire?
No meaningful wildfire history near Horning: 0% of nearby land since 1986, band low.
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).