Wildfire low, radon 5%: how Rolston stands on hazards
The burned-area map is nearly blank around Rolston, 0% within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. For earthquakes Rolston is middling, $0.044 a year per $1,000 against $0.030 for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Rolston a grade of B+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Rolston’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Rolston: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Rolston faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Rolston grades B+ for hazard risk
Seismic risk and radon set Rolston’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: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Little of the land around Rolston has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Rolston’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Low by Canadian standards: 0.000% of the land a year around Rolston, 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Little near Rolston’s homes can carry a forest fire; only 0.3% of the land within 5 km is forest fuel, and 1.6% 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
Among the 871 towns in Ontario, Sioux Lookout burns fastest (0.16% a year); Rolston is with the 638 near zero.
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%), Rolston 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 Rolston
Flood studies whose area touches Rolston, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
The inventory has nothing for Rolston, but a local or conservation-authority map may still exist.
Towns with a flood study on file
Rolston 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.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Rolston’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.”
Earthquakes cost buildings in Rolston $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 Rolston, $0.044 per $1,000, are in line with the typical $0.030 (1.5 times).
Rolston doesn’t get its own earthquake risk figures; the ones here come from the city of Hamilton.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Neither high nor low in Ontario: Rolston’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.
32% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Rolston, 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 Rolston’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).
Radon about average around Rolston: 5% over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
5% of tested homes around Rolston were over the guideline, much like the typical Canadian town at 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Rolston’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.
Radon tops the guideline in a modest share of homes around Rolston, a band holding 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% rank above.
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 survey sample isn’t a map: any home in Rolston can be high, and a three-month test is the only way to know.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests: the City of Hamilton Health Unit
Weather and fire alerts for Rolston
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Rolston; 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 Rolston 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 Rolston
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rolston | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Gourley 5,271 · 0.9 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Buchanan 3,006 · 1.0 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Gilbert 3,181 · 1.1 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Jerome 2,820 · 1.4 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Greeningdon 3,296 · 1.5 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Balfour 4,171 · 1.5 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
The neighbour with the most fire is Gourley (low), still no more than Rolston (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Rolston faces
Practical steps for Rolston’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 Rolston’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Rolston’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. The flood inventory points to maps; it is incomplete and not the official source, so ask the municipality about any street in Rolston.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Rolston takes its 2007 health region’s share.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Rolston
How big is the earthquake risk in Rolston?
Expected earthquake damage in Rolston comes to $0.044 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
How is Rolston’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Rolston B+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Does Rolston flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Rolston, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
Is Rolston at risk of wildfire?
No meaningful wildfire history near Rolston: 0% of nearby land since 1986, band low.
Is radon a problem in Rolston?
The area’s survey found 5% of 100 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Rolston.
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).