Photo: Jason Zhang · CC0York Road is on Canada’s flood inventory: 1 listed, led by Conservation Halton
The burned-area map is nearly blank around York Road, 0% within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. For earthquakes York Road is middling, $0.044 a year per $1,000 against $0.030 for the typical town. In Health Canada’s survey, 5% of homes tested in York Road’s area exceeded 200 Bq/m³, close to the typical 6.6%. Hazard risk gives York Road a grade of B+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about York Road’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for York Road: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What York Road faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
York Road grades B+ for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like York Road with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
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.
Little of the land around York Road has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around York Road’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The yearly burn rate around York Road is 0.000%, low beside 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Only 3.1% of the land within 25 km of York Road is forest fuel, and 1.5% close in.
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
Sioux Lookout has the highest burn rate in Ontario, 0.16% a year; around York Road, as around 638 of the 871 towns, it rounds to 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%), York Road 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.
York Road is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Conservation Halton
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for York Road: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
A 2020 study by Conservation Halton covers York Road, and its map, not the inventory, shows the zones.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Halton Shoreline Flood Hazard | Conservation Halton | 2020 | final · not public |
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Ontario reaches 69% of towns, York Road 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 York Road.
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 York Road: $0.044 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
With $0.044 of shaking damage a year per $1,000, York Road is about even with the typical $0.030 (1.5 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Shaking damage around York Road runs at $0.044 a year, near the $0.043 of the typical town in Ontario; Alexandria has $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 York Road.
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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in York Road’s figure, nor landslides or tsunami: it is buildings and shaking.
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 York Road are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
5% of tested homes around York Road were over the guideline, much like the typical Canadian town at 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
More homes top the guideline around York Road (5%) than in the typical town in Ontario (4%).
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
A middling share of high tests puts York Road with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, below 26% of them.
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 York Road 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). · Data for radon tests covers the City of Hamilton Health Unit
Weather and fire alerts for York Road
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for York Road; 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 York Road come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How York Road’s neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| York Road | Low | $0.044 | 5% | Yes |
| Central Business Dis 6,127 · 1.9 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Colborne 7,447 · 2.4 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | Yes |
| Ainslie Wood West 3,917 · 2.7 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Ainslie Wood East 3,112 · 2.7 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Westdale South 4,931 · 3.1 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | Yes |
| Golf Course 3,741 · 3.7 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than York Road (low); Central Business Dis comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what York Road faces
What to do about the hazards York Road 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. Radon figures pool the survey’s home tests by area: postal areas once their boundaries arrive, the 2007 health region around York Road until then.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of York Road’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- 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 York Road’s.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for York Road without grading them.
Questions about flooding and hazards in York Road
Is York Road at risk of wildfire?
The burned-area record shows next to nothing around York Road (0% within 25 km since 1986), so its band is low.
How is York Road’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives York Road B+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is radon a problem in York Road?
In Health Canada’s survey, 5% of 100 homes tested in York Road’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Does York Road flood?
A flood study covers York Road on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
How big is the earthquake risk in York Road?
In NRCan’s seismic model, York Road’s buildings lose $0.044 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
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).