Photo: P199 · Public domainA flood study covers Highlands East: 3 on the national inventory, the newest from Crowe Valley Conservation Authority
Since 1986 almost nothing has burned near Highlands East: 0% of the land within 25 km, or 0.000% a year. Seismic risk in Highlands East sits near the middle: $0.026 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Radon is about average around Highlands East: 6.1% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Highlands East grades A− for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Highlands East’s hazards
For Highlands East, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Highlands East faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Highlands East: A−
Seismic risk and radon set Highlands East’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
Its place: #450 of 866 in Ontario and #881 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Few fires near Highlands East: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Past fire around Highlands East’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Low by Canadian standards: 0.000% of the land a year around Highlands East, 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Near or far, forest fuel covers a similar share around Highlands East: 22% within 5 km and 27% 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
Little or nothing burns around Highlands East in a typical year; 638 of the 871 towns in Ontario share that, and Sioux Lookout leads 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%), Highlands East 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.
Highlands East is on the flood map inventory: 3 studies, latest by Crowe Valley Conservation Authority
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Highlands East: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The newest of 3 studies covering Highlands East is Crowe Valley Conservation Authority ’s, from 2024; open its map to see the zones.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chandos Lake FHIMP | Crowe Valley Conservation Authority | 2024 | under review · not public |
| Gull and Burnt River Watersheds within Haliburton County | County of Haliburton | 2024 | final |
| County of Haliburton Floodplain Mapping Project | Ganaraska Region Conservation Authority | 2024 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
69% of towns in Ontario have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Highlands East has one too.
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 Highlands East.
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 Highlands East: $0.026 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
With $0.026 of shaking damage a year per $1,000, Highlands East is about even with the typical $0.030 (0.9 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.026, Highlands East 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.
Around half of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Highlands East (53%).
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 Highlands East 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).
Some radon around Highlands East: 6.1% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Measured across the Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Heal health region: radon tests
6.1% of tested homes around Highlands East were over the guideline, much like the typical Canadian town at 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Highlands East’s area, at 6.1%, is above the median in Ontario (4%), and 1% 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.
Between 5% and 10% of tests over the guideline: Highlands East, and 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% are 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.
Radon varies from house to house in Highlands East, so the survey is a reason to test, not a result for yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Highlands East
Alerts for Highlands East 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. |
Evacuation orders for Highlands East come from the municipality or the province, while CWFIS maps fire danger every day.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Highlands East
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Highlands East | Low | $0.026 | 6.1% | Yes |
| Haliburton Village 8,100 · 18 km | Low | $0.021 | 6.1% | Yes |
Haliburton Village (low) has the heaviest fire record of Highlands East’s neighbours, and Highlands East (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Highlands East faces
Practical steps for Highlands East’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. The flood inventory points to maps; it is incomplete and not the official source, so ask the municipality about any street in Highlands East.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Highlands East’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Highlands East takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Highlands East, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Highlands East
Is Highlands East at risk of wildfire?
The burned-area record shows next to nothing around Highlands East (0% within 25 km since 1986), so its band is low.
How big is the earthquake risk in Highlands East?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Highlands East $0.026 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
How is Highlands East’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Highlands East A−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Does Highlands East flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Highlands East; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
Is radon a problem in Highlands East?
The area’s survey found 6.1% of 98 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Highlands East.
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).