Photo: JFVoll · CC BY-SA 4.0Hazards in Hanover: wildfire low, radon over the guideline in 11% of tested homes
Since 1986 almost nothing has burned near Hanover: 0% of the land within 25 km, or 0.000% a year. Seismic risk runs low: $0.013 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Hazard risk gives Hanover a grade of B, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Hanover’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Hanover: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Hanover faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hanover grades B for hazard risk
The grade weighs Hanover’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: #619 of 866 in Ontario and #1,421 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 Hanover has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Hanover’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Fire claims 0.000% of the land around Hanover each year, a low band, with the typical Canadian town at 0.000%.
10% of the land within 5 km of Hanover is forest fuel, close to the 11% 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, Hanover 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.
92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are in the low band and 7.5% above it; Hanover 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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Hanover
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Hanover: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
No flood study on the national inventory covers Hanover; ask the municipality, which is the authority for its flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Missing from a well-mapped province: Hanover has no study, where 69% of towns in Ontario have one against 58% nationally.
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 Hanover.
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.”
Low seismic risk in Hanover: $0.013 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
0.4 times the typical $0.030: Hanover’s $0.013 is low for Canada.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.013, Hanover is below the typical town 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.
Toward the quiet end of Canada’s range: 75% of its 2,611 towns sit above Hanover.
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 Hanover’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).
11% of homes tested around Hanover are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
At 11% over the guideline, the area around Hanover beats the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. Hanover doesn’t get its own radon tests figures; the ones here come from the Grey Bruce Health Unit.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Hanover than in most towns in Ontario: 11% over the guideline (4% is typical), 1% over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
More high tests than most: Hanover sits in a band that only 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns share, with 4.6% above.
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 Hanover 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).
Weather and fire alerts for Hanover
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Hanover; 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 Hanover come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Hanover
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
Hanover’s low band tops its neighbours; Walkerton is next (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Hanover faces
What to do about the hazards Hanover 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. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Hanover’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Hanover’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- 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 Hanover sits in.
- 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 Hanover floods.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Hanover
Is radon a problem in Hanover?
Around Hanover, 98 survey homes were tested and 11% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Does Hanover flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Hanover’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
Is Hanover at risk of wildfire?
The burned-area record shows next to nothing around Hanover (0% within 25 km since 1986), so its band is low.
How is Hanover’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hanover grades B for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Hanover?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Hanover $0.013 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
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).