Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0A flood study covers Havelock: 2 on the national inventory, the newest from Crowe Valley Conservation Authority
No wildfire is mapped within 25 km of Havelock’s homes since 1986 (0% of the land, 0.000% a year). Earthquake risk in Havelock is ordinary: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.032 a year per $1,000 of value, close to the typical town’s $0.030. In Health Canada’s survey, 8.9% of homes tested in Havelock’s area exceeded 200 Bq/m³, close to the typical 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Havelock a grade of B−, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Havelock’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Havelock: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Havelock faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Havelock grades B− for hazard risk
Earthquake risk and radon make Havelock’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
Its place: #661 of 866 in Ontario and #1,633 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 Havelock: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Havelock’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Low by Canadian standards: 0.000% of the land a year around Havelock, 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Nothing inside 5 km of Havelock’s homes has burned since 1986, and the nearest scar is 17 km off.
19% of the land within 5 km of Havelock is forest fuel, close to the 19% 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
To three decimals the burn rate around Havelock is zero, as for 638 of the 871 towns in Ontario, while Sioux Lookout reaches 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.
Havelock shares the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, its burn rate rounding to nothing; 7.5% burn faster.
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.
Flooding around Havelock is mapped in 2 studies, the newest by Crowe Valley Conservation Authority
Flood studies whose area touches Havelock, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Crowe Valley Conservation Authority and others have studied flooding in areas that include Havelock: 2 studies, the latest from 2024.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crowe River FHIMP | Crowe Valley Conservation Authority | 2024 | under review · not public |
| Lower Trent River | Lower Trent Region Conservation Authority | 2024 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are common in Ontario: 69% of towns have one, against 58% nationally, and Havelock is among them.
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 Havelock’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.
Ordinary seismic risk in Havelock: $0.032 per $1,000 of buildings a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
With $0.032 of shaking damage a year per $1,000, Havelock is about even with the typical $0.030 (1.1 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in Ontario peaks in Alexandria ($0.21); Havelock, at $0.032, is below the median of $0.043.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Around half of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Havelock (48%).
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 Havelock’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).
8.9% of homes tested around Havelock are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Shared with the rest of the Peterborough County-City Health Unit: radon tests
Around Havelock, 8.9% of tested homes topped the guideline, near the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Havelock’s area, at 8.9%, is above the median in Ontario (4%), and 0.9% of its tests passed 600 Bq/m³.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Radon tops the guideline in a modest share of homes around Havelock, a band holding 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% rank 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.
The share describes the area, not a house: in Havelock as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Havelock
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Havelock; 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. |
In fire season, check CWFIS for danger and active fires around Havelock, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Havelock’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Havelock | Low | $0.032 | 8.9% | Yes |
| Norwood 5,308 · 11 km | Low | $0.029 | 8.9% | Yes |
| Campbellford 15,103 · 16 km | Low | $0.029 | 6.1% | Yes |
| Marmora 4,761 · 16 km | Low | $0.033 | 12% | Yes |
Norwood (low) has the heaviest fire record of Havelock’s neighbours, and Havelock (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Havelock faces
Practical steps for Havelock’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
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Havelock’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. NRCan’s inventory says where flood mapping exists, not where water goes; the map’s owner is the authority for Havelock.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Havelock is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Havelock’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Havelock
How big is the earthquake risk in Havelock?
Expected earthquake damage in Havelock comes to $0.032 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is radon a problem in Havelock?
8.9% of the 112 homes Health Canada tested around Havelock topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
Does Havelock flood?
There is flood mapping for Havelock on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
Is Havelock at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Havelock’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2025), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
How is Havelock’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Havelock B−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
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).