Hazards in Westmeria: wildfire low, radon over the guideline in 5% of tested homes
The national fire record shows next to nothing around Westmeria, 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). Earthquake risk in Westmeria 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. Hazard risk gives Westmeria a grade of B+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Westmeria’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Westmeria: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Westmeria faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Westmeria grades B+ for hazard risk
The grade weighs Westmeria’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
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.
Wildfire is rare near Westmeria: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Westmeria’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Forty years of fire maps put Westmeria 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 Westmeria: forest fuel is 0.2% within 5 km and 0.5% 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); Westmeria 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.
Measured against 2,610 towns, Westmeria is in the largest group, low (92%), and at its floor, while 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 Westmeria
Flood studies whose area touches Westmeria, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
No flood study on the national inventory covers Westmeria; ask the municipality, which is the authority for its flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Ontario reaches 69% of towns, beside 58% across Canada, but not Westmeria.
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 Westmeria.
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 Westmeria $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 Westmeria, $0.044 per $1,000, are in line with the typical $0.030 (1.5 times).
Westmeria 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
Westmeria’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.
More earthquake risk than most: only 32% of Canada’s 2,611 towns are above Westmeria.
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 Westmeria’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 Westmeria: 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 Westmeria were over the guideline, much like the typical Canadian town at 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The median in Ontario is 4% over 200 Bq/m³; the survey area around Westmeria has 5%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
26% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have more homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Westmeria’s 5–10% band, which holds 37%.
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 share describes the area, not a house: in Westmeria as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Not measured by town: radon tests (the City of Hamilton Health Unit)
Weather and fire alerts for Westmeria
Alerts for Westmeria 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. |
Alert Ready carries evacuation orders for Westmeria to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Westmeria’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Westmeria | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Guernsey 3,808 · 0.7 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Highway Valley 4,469 · 1.5 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Poplar Park 3,031 · 1.8 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Lakeshore 3,127 · 2.4 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Trillium 2,967 · 2.5 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Eastdale 2,703 · 2.5 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
Nowhere around Westmeria burns more: Guernsey, the closest rival, is low to its low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Westmeria faces
What to do about the hazards Westmeria 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
- 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 Westmeria’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Westmeria’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Westmeria takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- 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 Westmeria.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Westmeria
Does Westmeria flood?
Nothing is listed for Westmeria on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
Is Westmeria at risk of wildfire?
Hardly at all on record: 0% of the land within 25 km of Westmeria since 1986, a low band, though small grass fires aren’t mapped.
How big is the earthquake risk in Westmeria?
Expected earthquake damage in Westmeria comes to $0.044 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is radon a problem in Westmeria?
In Health Canada’s survey, 5% of 100 homes tested in Westmeria’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
How is Westmeria’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Westmeria’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).