Wildfire low, radon 5%: how Inch Park stands on hazards
For Inch Park, wildfire history is close to nil: 0% of nearby land since 1986, 0.000% a year. Earthquake risk in Inch Park is ordinary: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.044 a year per $1,000 of value, close to the typical town’s $0.030. Hazard risk gives Inch Park a grade of B+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Inch Park’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Inch Park: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Inch Park faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Inch Park grades B+ for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Inch 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: 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.
Few fires near Inch Park: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Past fire around Inch Park’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
A burn rate of 0.000% a year keeps Inch Park in the low band (the typical Canadian town: 0.000%).
With 0.1% forest fuel within 5 km and 1.3% within 25 km, the land around Inch Park gives a fire little to burn.
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 Inch Park 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.
Like most of Canada’s 2,610 towns (92%), Inch Park 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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Inch Park
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Inch Park: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
No flood study on the national inventory covers Inch Park; ask the municipality, which is the authority for its flood maps.
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 Inch Park.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Inch Park’s homes are at risk.
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 Inch Park $0.044 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Inch 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
Neither high nor low in Ontario: Inch Park’s $0.044 sits by the median of $0.043, while Alexandria reaches $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.
Inch 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).
The loss is to Inch Park’s buildings alone, from ground shaking; infrastructure and secondary hazards are left out.
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 Inch Park are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Inch Park’s area sits close to the typical Canadian town: 5% over the guideline, against 6.6%. For radon tests, the only official count covers all of the City of Hamilton Health Unit, Inch Park included.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The median in Ontario is 4% over 200 Bq/m³; the survey area around Inch Park has 5%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Inch Park is in the 5–10% band with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% have more.
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 survey sample isn’t a map: any home in Inch Park can be high, and a three-month test is the only way to know.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Inch Park
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Inch Park; 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. |
Smoke and fire warnings for Inch Park come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Inch Park’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inch Park | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Eastmount 4,496 · 0.6 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Stinson 3,969 · 1.1 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| St. Clair 3,201 · 1.1 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Centremount 4,053 · 1.2 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Hill Park 3,262 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Corktown 8,952 · 1.4 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
Inch Park’s low band tops its neighbours; Eastmount is next (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Inch Park faces
What to do about the hazards Inch 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
- 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 Inch Park sits in.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Inch Park’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Inch Park’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- 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 Inch Park floods.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Inch Park
Does Inch Park flood?
Nothing is listed for Inch Park on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
Is Inch Park at risk of wildfire?
Hardly at all on record: 0% of the land within 25 km of Inch Park since 1986, a low band, though small grass fires aren’t mapped.
How is Inch Park’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Inch Park’s Hazard risk grade is B+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is radon a problem in Inch Park?
In Health Canada’s survey, 5% of 100 homes tested in Inch Park’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
How big is the earthquake risk in Inch Park?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Inch Park’s buildings lose $0.044 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
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).