Photo: JFVoll · CC BY-SA 4.0Spring Valley is on Canada’s flood inventory: 1 listed, led by Grand River Conservation Authority
Wildfire barely registers for Spring Valley, at 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). Shaking is about as much of a worry in Spring Valley as in most places, at $0.044 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). About as many homes carry radon around Spring Valley as elsewhere, 5% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Spring Valley grades B+ for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Spring Valley’s hazards
For Spring Valley, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Spring Valley faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Spring Valley: B+
For Spring Valley, 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: 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 Spring Valley: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Spring Valley’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Forty years of fire maps put Spring Valley at 0.000% a year, low next to the typical Canadian town’s 0.000%.
Forest fuel is scarce around Spring Valley: 1.6% of the land within 5 km, 2.1% 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
Of the 871 towns in Ontario, 638 have a burn rate that rounds to zero, Spring Valley 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%), Spring Valley 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.
Spring Valley is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Grand River Conservation Authority
Flood studies whose area touches Spring Valley, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
A 2018 study by Grand River Conservation Authority covers Spring Valley, and its map, not the inventory, shows the zones.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grand River Regulatory Floodplain | Grand River Conservation Authority | 2018 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Ontario reaches 69% of towns, Spring Valley 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.
Nothing here counts toward Risk; the studies are pointers to the maps their owners keep for Spring Valley.
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 Spring Valley: $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.
At $0.044 per $1,000, Spring Valley’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
Typical for its province: Spring Valley at $0.044 beside a median in Ontario of $0.043, with Alexandria on top 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.
32% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Spring Valley, 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).
For Spring Valley the model prices shaking damage to buildings, nothing more.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean). · Earthquake risk: one figure for all of the city of Hamilton
5% of homes tested around Spring Valley are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
5% of tested homes around Spring Valley were over the guideline, much like the typical Canadian town at 6.6%. For radon tests, the only official count covers all of the City of Hamilton Health Unit, Spring Valley included.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Spring Valley 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.
Between 5% and 10% of tests over the guideline: Spring Valley, and 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% are 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.
Radon varies from house to house in Spring Valley, so the survey is a reason to test, not a result for yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Spring Valley
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Spring Valley; 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 Spring Valley, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Spring Valley
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spring Valley | Low | $0.044 | 5% | Yes |
| Leeming 2,849 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | Yes |
| Shaver 2,882 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | Yes |
| Garner 5,456 · 2.7 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Sulphur Springs 9,404 · 4.0 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Marritt 2,759 · 4.0 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Oakes 4,048 · 4.4 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
Spring Valley’s low band tops its neighbours; Leeming is next (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Spring Valley faces
Practical steps for Spring Valley’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. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Spring Valley is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. NRCan’s inventory says where flood mapping exists, not where water goes; the map’s owner is the authority for Spring Valley.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Spring Valley’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Wildfire counts one way. For Spring Valley, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Spring Valley
Does Spring Valley flood?
There is flood mapping for Spring Valley on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
Is Spring Valley at risk of wildfire?
Very little by the national record: Spring Valley’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 Spring Valley?
5% of the 100 homes Health Canada tested around Spring Valley topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How big is the earthquake risk in Spring Valley?
About $0.044 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Spring Valley.
How is Spring Valley’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Spring Valley’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).