Photo: JFVoll · CC BY-SA 4.0A flood study covers Kentley: 1 on the national inventory, the newest from Hamilton Conservation Authority
Fire has left almost no mark near Kentley: 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. Shaking is about as much of a worry in Kentley as in most places, at $0.044 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Radon is about average around Kentley: 5% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Kentley grades B+ for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Kentley’s hazards
For Kentley, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Kentley faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Kentley: B+
Two inputs always count for Kentley, 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 Kentley: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Kentley’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
The yearly burn rate around Kentley is 0.000%, low beside 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Land that isn’t forest covers nearly all the ground around Kentley: forest fuel is 0% within 5 km and 0.7% 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 Kentley 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.
Only 7.5% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are above the low band, which holds 92%; Kentley, at a rounded zero, is far from them.
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.
A flood study covers Kentley, from Hamilton Conservation Authority: 1 on the inventory
Flood studies whose area touches Kentley, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
A 2025 study by Hamilton Conservation Authority covers Kentley, and its map, not the inventory, shows the zones.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red Hill Creek | Hamilton Conservation Authority | 2025 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are common in Ontario: 69% of towns have one, against 58% nationally, and Kentley is among them.
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 Kentley’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.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Kentley $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.
Earthquake losses in Kentley, $0.044 per $1,000, are in line with the typical $0.030 (1.5 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk around Kentley ($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.
32% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Kentley, which places it in the upper third.
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).
For Kentley the model prices shaking damage to buildings, nothing more.
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
Some radon around Kentley: 5% of area homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
The survey area of Kentley 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 Kentley has 5%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Kentley 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.
Health Canada advises testing every home, Kentley’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests published for the City of Hamilton Health Unit, not by town
Where to get warnings in Kentley
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Kentley; 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. |
In fire season, check CWFIS for danger and active fires around Kentley, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Kentley’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kentley | Low | $0.044 | 5% | Yes |
| Corman 6,566 · 1.0 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | Yes |
| Riverdale West 6,804 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | Yes |
| Mcquesten West 6,349 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | Yes |
| Battlefield 6,531 · 1.5 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | Yes |
| Normanhurst 3,260 · 1.9 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | Yes |
| Glenview West 3,431 · 1.9 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | Yes |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Kentley (low); Corman comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Kentley faces
What to do about the hazards Kentley 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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Wildfire counts one way. For Kentley, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- 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 Kentley.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Kentley’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Kentley is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Kentley
How is Kentley’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Kentley B+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is Kentley at risk of wildfire?
Hardly at all on record: 0% of the land within 25 km of Kentley since 1986, a low band, though small grass fires aren’t mapped.
How big is the earthquake risk in Kentley?
Expected earthquake damage in Kentley comes to $0.044 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is radon a problem in Kentley?
Around Kentley, 100 survey homes were tested and 5% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Does Kentley flood?
There is flood mapping for Kentley on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
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).