Photo: Jfvoll · CC BY-SA 4.0Howick’s hazards at a glance: a low wildfire record and 11% of area homes over the radon guideline
Since 1986 almost nothing has burned near Howick: 0% of the land within 25 km, or 0.000% a year. Seismic risk in Howick sits near the middle: $0.016 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Howick grades B for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Howick’s hazards
For Howick, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Howick faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Howick grades B for hazard risk
For Howick, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
Its place: #637 of 866 in Ontario and #1,509 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Wildfire is rare near Howick: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Howick’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
In a typical year 0.000% of the land near Howick burns; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%, and both are low.
Around Howick the forest is thin or far off: 2% of the land within 5 km and 2.7% within 25 km is forest fuel.
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 Howick 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.
Howick 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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Howick
Flood studies whose area touches Howick, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists no study whose area touches Howick, which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped.
Towns with a flood study on file
Missing from a well-mapped province: Howick 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.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Howick’s homes stand in a flood zone.
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 Howick $0.016 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.
At $0.016 per $1,000, Howick’s earthquake risk is about the typical Canadian town’s ($0.030; 0.5 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Below the middle in Ontario: Howick’s $0.016 against a median of $0.043; 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.
Earthquakes cost less around Howick than in 71% of Canada’s 2,611 towns.
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 Howick 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).
11% of homes tested around Howick are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
the typical Canadian town has 6.6% over the guideline; Howick’s area has 11%. Figures for radon tests are published for the Huron County Health Unit as a whole, not for Howick alone.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Howick, 11% of tests were over 200 Bq/m³ and 0.9% over 600, against a median of 4% in Ontario.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Howick is in the 10–20% band, with 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; only 4.6% 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 Howick, 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 Howick
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Howick; 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 Howick, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Howick’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Howick | Low | $0.016 | 11% | None listed |
| Morris-Turnberry 4,028 · 13 km | Low | $0.015 | 11% | Yes |
| Wingham 5,411 · 18 km | Low | $0.013 | 11% | Yes |
| Palmerston 10,029 · 19 km | Low | $0.017 | 11% | Yes |
Morris-Turnberry (low) has the heaviest fire record of Howick’s neighbours, and Howick (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Howick faces
Practical steps for Howick’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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- 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 Howick until then.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Howick without grading them.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Howick’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Wildfire counts one way. For Howick, 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 Howick
Is radon a problem in Howick?
The area’s survey found 11% of 106 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Howick.
How big is the earthquake risk in Howick?
Expected earthquake damage in Howick comes to $0.016 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
How is Howick’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Howick grades B for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Does Howick flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Howick, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
Is Howick at risk of wildfire?
The burned-area record shows next to nothing around Howick (0% within 25 km since 1986), so its band is low.
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).