Photo: JFVoll · CC BY-SA 4.0Strathcona is on Canada’s flood inventory: 1 listed, led by Conservation Halton
Since 1986 almost nothing has burned near Strathcona: 0% of the land within 25 km, or 0.000% a year. Earthquake risk in Strathcona 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. In Health Canada’s survey, 5% of homes tested in Strathcona’s area exceeded 200 Bq/m³, close to the typical 6.6%. Strathcona grades B+ for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Strathcona’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Strathcona: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Strathcona faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Strathcona grades B+ for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Strathcona, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
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 Strathcona: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Strathcona’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
With 0.000% burned a year, Strathcona is among the many low-band places (the typical Canadian town 0.000%).
Forest fuel is scarce around Strathcona: 2% of the land within 5 km, 2.4% 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
Near-zero burning puts Strathcona 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.
92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are in the low band and 7.5% above it; Strathcona is among the many where the yearly burn rate 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.
Conservation Halton has mapped flooding for Strathcona (1 study)
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Strathcona: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Conservation Halton holds the flood mapping that covers Strathcona (2020), linked below.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Halton Shoreline Flood Hazard | Conservation Halton | 2020 | final · not public |
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are common in Ontario: 69% of towns have one, against 58% nationally, and Strathcona is among them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Strathcona.
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 Strathcona $0.044 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Earthquake losses in Strathcona, $0.044 per $1,000, are in line with the typical $0.030 (1.5 times).
Strathcona 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
Earthquake risk around Strathcona ($0.044) matches the middle in Ontario ($0.043), far from Alexandria’s $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.
Strathcona sits above most of Canada’s 2,611 towns on earthquake risk; 32% are higher.
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 loss is to Strathcona’s buildings alone, from ground shaking; infrastructure and secondary hazards are left out.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Some radon around Strathcona: 5% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Shared with the rest of the City of Hamilton Health Unit: radon tests
Strathcona’s area, at 5%, is close to the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Strathcona’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.
Strathcona is in the 5–10% band with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% have more.
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 survey sampled homes around Strathcona; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Strathcona
Alerts for Strathcona come from Environment and Climate Change Canada and, for emergencies, Alert Ready.
| 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. |
Fire danger and active fires near Strathcona are mapped daily by the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System; evacuation orders come from the municipality or province.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Strathcona
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strathcona | Low | $0.044 | 5% | Yes |
| Central 3,698 · 1.0 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Kirkendall North 5,864 · 1.1 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Durand 13,338 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Westdale South 4,931 · 1.6 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | Yes |
| Kirkendall South 3,033 · 1.8 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Corktown 8,952 · 2.1 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
Strathcona’s low band tops its neighbours; Central is next (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Strathcona faces
What to do about the hazards Strathcona 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
- 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 Strathcona sits in.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Strathcona’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Strathcona’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- 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 Strathcona floods.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Strathcona
Does Strathcona flood?
Strathcona’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
How is Strathcona’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Strathcona grades B+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is radon a problem in Strathcona?
Around Strathcona, 100 survey homes were tested and 5% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How big is the earthquake risk in Strathcona?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Strathcona $0.044 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is Strathcona at risk of wildfire?
No meaningful wildfire history near Strathcona: 0% of nearby land since 1986, band low.
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).