Templemead is on Canada’s flood inventory: 1 listed, led by Hamilton Conservation Authority
Wildfire isn’t Templemead’s worry: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (0.000% a year). Earthquake risk in Templemead 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 Templemead’s area exceeded 200 Bq/m³, close to the typical 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Templemead a grade of B+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Templemead’s hazards
For Templemead, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Templemead faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Templemead grades B+ for hazard risk
Earthquake risk and radon make Templemead’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
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. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Few fires near Templemead: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Templemead’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Forty years of fire maps put Templemead at 0.000% a year, low next to the typical Canadian town’s 0.000%.
Land that isn’t forest covers nearly all the ground around Templemead: forest fuel is 0.2% within 5 km and 0.7% 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
Fire has taken almost none of the land around Templemead, 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%), Templemead 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.
A flood study covers Templemead, from Hamilton Conservation Authority: 1 on the inventory
Flood studies whose area touches Templemead, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
A 2025 study by Hamilton Conservation Authority covers Templemead, and its map, not the inventory, shows the zones.
| 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, Templemead 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 Templemead’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.
Expected shaking damage in Templemead: $0.044 a year per $1,000
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Templemead’s $0.044 is close to the typical town’s $0.030 (1.5 times as much).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Templemead’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.
Templemead 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).
For Templemead 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: the city of Hamilton
5% of homes tested around Templemead are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Templemead’s area, at 5%, is close to the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town. Templemead doesn’t get its own radon tests figures; the ones here come from the City of Hamilton Health Unit.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The median in Ontario is 4% over 200 Bq/m³; the survey area around Templemead has 5%.
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 Templemead’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.
Whatever Templemead’s area share, the reading that matters is your own home’s, over a winter.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Templemead
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Templemead; 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 Templemead, 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 Templemead
The same four hazards for the places next door.
The neighbour with the most fire is Quinndale (low), still no more than Templemead (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Templemead faces
Practical steps for Templemead’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
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Templemead without grading them.
- Wildfire counts one way. Burned land within 25 km of where people live, averaged over 1986–2025 and checked for fuel near homes, is the measure; it looks back, not ahead, and only ever counts against Templemead.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Templemead’s included.
- Radon is a survey. Radon figures pool the survey’s home tests by area: postal areas once their boundaries arrive, the 2007 health region around Templemead until then.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Templemead
How big is the earthquake risk in Templemead?
About $0.044 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Templemead.
Is radon a problem in Templemead?
5% of the 100 homes Health Canada tested around Templemead topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How is Templemead’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Templemead B+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is Templemead at risk of wildfire?
Hardly at all on record: 0% of the land within 25 km of Templemead since 1986, a low band, though small grass fires aren’t mapped.
Does Templemead flood?
A flood study covers Templemead on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
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).