Jerome’s hazards at a glance: a low wildfire record and 5% of area homes over the radon guideline
Wildfire barely registers for Jerome, at 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). Shaking is about as much of a worry in Jerome as in most places, at $0.044 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Hazard risk gives Jerome a grade of B+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Jerome’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Jerome: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Jerome faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Jerome grades B+ for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Jerome, 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. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Few fires near Jerome: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Jerome’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Next to the typical Canadian town (0.000% a year), Jerome’s 0.000% is in the low band.
With 0% forest fuel within 5 km and 1.1% within 25 km, the land around Jerome 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
Near-zero burning puts Jerome 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.
Jerome 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 Jerome
Flood studies whose area touches Jerome, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
The inventory has nothing for Jerome, but a local or conservation-authority map may still exist.
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 Jerome.
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 Jerome 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.”
Ordinary seismic risk in Jerome: $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.
At $0.044 per $1,000, Jerome’s earthquake risk is about the typical Canadian town’s ($0.030; 1.5 times).
Jerome doesn’t get its own earthquake risk figures; the ones here come from the city of Hamilton.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Jerome’s $0.044 is close to the median in Ontario, $0.043; Alexandria is highest 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.
Jerome 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 Jerome’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).
Some radon around Jerome: 5% of area homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
5% of tested homes around Jerome were over the guideline, much like the typical Canadian town at 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
More homes top the guideline around Jerome (5%) than in the typical town in Ontario (4%).
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Jerome 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.
The survey sampled homes around Jerome; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Area behind the radon tests figures: the City of Hamilton Health Unit
Weather and fire alerts for Jerome
Alerts for Jerome 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 Jerome 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 Jerome’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jerome | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Crerar 2,877 · 0.9 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Greeningdon 3,296 · 0.9 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Bruleville 4,310 · 1.2 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Rolston 6,124 · 1.4 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Gourley 5,271 · 1.4 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Balfour 4,171 · 1.6 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
Jerome’s low band tops its neighbours; Crerar is next (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Jerome faces
What to do about the hazards Jerome 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 Jerome 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 Jerome.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Jerome’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Jerome’s figure is its subdivision’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Jerome
Does Jerome flood?
Nothing is listed for Jerome on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
Is radon a problem in Jerome?
In Health Canada’s survey, 5% of 100 homes tested in Jerome’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Is Jerome at risk of wildfire?
The burned-area record shows next to nothing around Jerome (0% within 25 km since 1986), so its band is low.
How big is the earthquake risk in Jerome?
Expected earthquake damage in Jerome comes to $0.044 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
How is Jerome’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Jerome B+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
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).