Wildfire low, radon 5%: how Raleigh stands on hazards
The burned-area map is nearly blank around Raleigh, 0% within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. Seismic risk in Raleigh sits near the middle: $0.044 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Raleigh grades B+ for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Raleigh’s hazards
For Raleigh, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Raleigh faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Raleigh: B+
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Raleigh 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.
Wildfire is rare near Raleigh: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Raleigh’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Around Raleigh fire takes 0.000% of the land in a typical year, the typical Canadian town 0.000%, which is low.
Forest makes up 0.1% of the land within 5 km of Raleigh and 1% within 25 km, little for a forest fire to run through.
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 Raleigh, 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.
Like most of Canada’s 2,610 towns (92%), Raleigh 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.
No flood study is listed for Raleigh
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Raleigh: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists no study whose area touches Raleigh, which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped.
Towns with a flood study on file
Raleigh 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 Raleigh.
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.”
Expected shaking damage in Raleigh: $0.044 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.044 per $1,000, Raleigh’s earthquake risk is about the typical Canadian town’s ($0.030; 1.5 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Raleigh’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.
In the upper part of Canada’s range: 32% of its 2,611 towns expect more damage than Raleigh.
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 Raleigh.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean). · Area behind the earthquake risk figures: the city of Hamilton
Some radon around Raleigh: 5% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Area-wide: radon tests, counted over the City of Hamilton Health Unit
Near the middle for radon: Raleigh’s area 5%, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
More homes top the guideline around Raleigh (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.
A middling share of high tests puts Raleigh with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, below 26% of them.
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.
A low area share in Raleigh doesn’t clear a house, nor does a high one condemn it: test.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Raleigh
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Raleigh; 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 Raleigh 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 Raleigh
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Raleigh | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Macassa 2,584 · 1.0 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Eastmount 4,496 · 1.1 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Blakeley 3,151 · 1.2 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Hampton Heights 3,498 · 1.2 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Burkholme 3,580 · 1.4 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Sherwood 2,567 · 1.5 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | Yes |
Macassa (low) has the heaviest fire record of Raleigh’s neighbours, and Raleigh (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Raleigh faces
What to do about the hazards Raleigh 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
- 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 Raleigh.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Raleigh takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Raleigh, 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 Raleigh’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
Questions about flooding and hazards in Raleigh
Is radon a problem in Raleigh?
Around Raleigh, 100 survey homes were tested and 5% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Does Raleigh flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Raleigh’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
How big is the earthquake risk in Raleigh?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Raleigh $0.044 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is Raleigh at risk of wildfire?
The burned-area record shows next to nothing around Raleigh (0% within 25 km since 1986), so its band is low.
How is Raleigh’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Raleigh’s Hazard risk grade is B+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
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).