Photo: JFVoll · CC BY-SA 4.0Hazards in Kirkendall North: wildfire low, radon over the guideline in 5% of tested homes
Since 1986 almost nothing has burned near Kirkendall North: 0% of the land within 25 km, or 0.000% a year. Earthquake risk in Kirkendall North 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 Kirkendall North a grade of B+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Kirkendall North’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Kirkendall North: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Kirkendall North faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Kirkendall North: B+
Seismic risk and radon set Kirkendall North’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: 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 Kirkendall North: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Kirkendall North’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
The land within 25 km of Kirkendall North burns at 0.000% a year on average, the low band; the typical Canadian town: 0.000%.
Little near Kirkendall North’s homes can carry a forest fire; only 1.7% of the land within 5 km is forest fuel, and 2% 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
Fire has taken almost none of the land around Kirkendall North, as for 638 of the 871 towns in Ontario; Sioux Lookout tops the list 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.
92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are in the low band and 7.5% above it; Kirkendall North is among the many where the yearly burn rate rounds to zero.
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 Kirkendall North
Flood studies whose area touches Kirkendall North, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
No flood study on the national inventory covers Kirkendall North; ask the municipality, which is the authority for its flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Kirkendall North has no flood study on file, though 69% of towns in Ontario do (Canada: 58%).
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Nothing here counts toward Risk; the studies are pointers to the maps their owners keep for Kirkendall North.
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 Kirkendall North: $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, Kirkendall North is about even with the typical $0.030 (1.5 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Shaking damage around Kirkendall North runs at $0.044 a year, near the $0.043 of the typical town in Ontario; Alexandria has $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 Kirkendall North, 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).
The model counts damage to Kirkendall North’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). · Not measured by town: earthquake risk (the city of Hamilton)
Radon about average around Kirkendall North: 5% over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Measured across the City of Hamilton Health Unit: radon tests
Kirkendall North’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
Radon runs higher around Kirkendall North 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 Kirkendall North’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 survey sampled homes around Kirkendall North; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Kirkendall North
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Kirkendall North; 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 Kirkendall North, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Kirkendall North’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kirkendall North | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Kirkendall South 3,033 · 0.8 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Durand 13,338 · 1.0 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Strathcona 9,348 · 1.1 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | Yes |
| Westdale South 4,931 · 1.5 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | Yes |
| Central 3,698 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Corktown 8,952 · 1.9 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Kirkendall North (low); Kirkendall South comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Kirkendall North faces
Practical steps for Kirkendall North’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
- Earthquakes are modelled. Shaking damage is modelled from the ground, the buildings and the odds of each quake, and published for whole subdivisions such as Kirkendall North’s.
- Radon is a survey. Radon figures pool the survey’s home tests by area: postal areas once their boundaries arrive, the 2007 health region around Kirkendall North until then.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Kirkendall North’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Kirkendall North without grading them.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Kirkendall North
How big is the earthquake risk in Kirkendall North?
Expected earthquake damage in Kirkendall North comes to $0.044 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is Kirkendall North at risk of wildfire?
Very little by the national record: Kirkendall North’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 Kirkendall North?
5% of the 100 homes Health Canada tested around Kirkendall North topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
Does Kirkendall North flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Kirkendall North (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
How is Kirkendall North’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Kirkendall North 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).