A flood study covers Quinndale: 1 on the national inventory, the newest from Hamilton Conservation Authority
Wildfire isn’t Quinndale’s worry: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (0.000% a year). Seismic risk in Quinndale sits near the middle: $0.044 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Radon around Quinndale is ordinary for Canada: 5% of tested homes over the guideline (6.6% typical). Hazard risk gives Quinndale a grade of B+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Quinndale’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Quinndale: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Quinndale faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Quinndale: B+
For Quinndale, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
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.
Wildfire is rare near Quinndale: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Quinndale’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The land within 25 km of Quinndale burns at 0.000% a year on average, the low band; the typical Canadian town: 0.000%.
Around Quinndale the forest is thin or far off: 0.2% of the land within 5 km and 0.8% 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
Near-zero burning puts Quinndale 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.
Most of the country’s 2,610 towns are low-band (92%, against 7.5% above); around Quinndale, burning 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.
Quinndale is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Hamilton Conservation Authority
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Quinndale: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
One study on the inventory touches Quinndale, 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
Mapping in Ontario reaches 69% of towns, Quinndale included, beside 58% across Canada.
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 Quinndale’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.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Quinndale $0.044 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Earthquake losses in Quinndale, $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
Neither high nor low in Ontario: Quinndale’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.
In the upper part of Canada’s range: 32% of its 2,611 towns expect more damage than Quinndale.
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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Quinndale’s figure, nor landslides or tsunami: it is buildings and shaking.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean). · Earthquake risk published for the city of Hamilton, not by town
Some radon around Quinndale: 5% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
5% of tested homes around Quinndale were over the guideline, much like the typical Canadian town at 6.6%. Behind radon tests sits data gathered across the City of Hamilton Health Unit, with Quinndale one part of it.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Quinndale’s area, at 5%, is above the median in Ontario (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 Quinndale’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 share describes the area, not a house: in Quinndale as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Quinndale
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Quinndale; 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. |
For fires near Quinndale, the national fire information system maps danger and active fires daily; local authorities give any evacuation order.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Quinndale
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quinndale | Low | $0.044 | 5% | Yes |
| Templemead 4,188 · 0.7 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | Yes |
| Berrisfield 3,773 · 1.0 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | Yes |
| Eleanor 3,805 · 1.2 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | Yes |
| Lisgar 3,945 · 1.2 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | Yes |
| Rushdale 5,154 · 1.2 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Lawfield 6,021 · 1.5 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
Quinndale’s low band tops its neighbours; Templemead is next (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Quinndale faces
Practical steps for Quinndale’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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- 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 Quinndale sits in.
- 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 Quinndale’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Quinndale’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. 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 Quinndale floods.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Quinndale
Does Quinndale flood?
Quinndale’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
Is Quinndale at risk of wildfire?
No meaningful wildfire history near Quinndale: 0% of nearby land since 1986, band low.
Is radon a problem in Quinndale?
5% of the 100 homes Health Canada tested around Quinndale topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How big is the earthquake risk in Quinndale?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Quinndale $0.044 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
How is Quinndale’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Quinndale 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).