A flood study covers Mcquesten West: 1 on the national inventory, the newest from Hamilton Conservation Authority
Wildfire isn’t Mcquesten West’s worry: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (0.000% a year). Earthquake risk in Mcquesten West 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. Mcquesten West’s survey area, 5% over the radon guideline, is close to the typical town’s 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Mcquesten West a grade of B+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Mcquesten West’s hazards
For Mcquesten West, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Mcquesten West faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Mcquesten West grades B+ for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Mcquesten West with little fire nearby would get no credit for 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. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Few fires near Mcquesten West: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Mcquesten West’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
A burn rate of 0.000% a year keeps Mcquesten West in the low band (the typical Canadian town: 0.000%).
Around Mcquesten West the forest is thin or far off: 0% of the land within 5 km and 0.7% within 25 km is forest fuel.
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
Of the 871 towns in Ontario, 638 have a burn rate that rounds to zero, Mcquesten West among them; Sioux Lookout leads at 0.16% a year.
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%), Mcquesten West 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.
Mcquesten West is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Hamilton Conservation Authority
Flood studies whose area touches Mcquesten West, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
One study on the inventory touches Mcquesten West, Hamilton Conservation Authority’s from 2025, and its area can be large, so it says a map exists, not that the town floods.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red Hill Creek | Hamilton Conservation Authority | 2025 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
69% of towns in Ontario have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Mcquesten West has one too.
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 Mcquesten West’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.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
Ordinary seismic risk in Mcquesten West: $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.
Nothing unusual about Mcquesten West’s ground: $0.044 against a typical $0.030, 1.5 times.
Mcquesten West shares its earthquake risk numbers with the rest of the city of Hamilton.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Shaking damage around Mcquesten West 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.
In the upper part of Canada’s range: 32% of its 2,611 towns expect more damage than Mcquesten West.
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).
What a quake does after the shaking, fire, landslides, tsunami, falls outside NRCan’s figure for Mcquesten West.
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 Mcquesten West: 5% over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
The survey area of Mcquesten West reads 5%, a shade from the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Mcquesten West 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.
26% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have more homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Mcquesten West’s 5–10% band, which holds 37%.
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.
Whatever Mcquesten West’s area share, the reading that matters is your own home’s, over a winter.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests: the City of Hamilton Health Unit
Where to get warnings in Mcquesten West
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Mcquesten West; 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 Mcquesten West come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Mcquesten West
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mcquesten West | Low | $0.044 | 5% | Yes |
| Normanhurst 3,260 · 0.7 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | Yes |
| Glenview West 3,431 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | Yes |
| Kentley 4,007 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | Yes |
| Homeside 6,011 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Parkview West 3,686 · 1.8 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | Yes |
| Corman 6,566 · 1.8 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | Yes |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Mcquesten West (low); Normanhurst comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Mcquesten West faces
What to do about the hazards Mcquesten West 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 Mcquesten West, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Mcquesten West’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. The flood inventory points to maps; it is incomplete and not the official source, so ask the municipality about any street in Mcquesten West.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Mcquesten West takes its 2007 health region’s share.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Mcquesten West
Is Mcquesten West at risk of wildfire?
Very little by the national record: Mcquesten West’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Mcquesten West?
Expected earthquake damage in Mcquesten West comes to $0.044 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
How is Mcquesten West’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Mcquesten West’s Hazard risk grade is B+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Does Mcquesten West flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Mcquesten West; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
Is radon a problem in Mcquesten West?
Around Mcquesten West, 100 survey homes were tested and 5% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
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).