Photo: Huntsville Ontario · CC BY 2.0Hazard risk in Huntsville is lower than in 91% of Canadian towns
Fire has left almost no mark near Huntsville: 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. Seismic risk in Huntsville sits near the middle: $0.021 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Radon is lower than usual: 0.9% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Huntsville grades A for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Huntsville’s hazards
For Huntsville, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Huntsville faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Huntsville grades A for hazard risk
The grade weighs Huntsville’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: #39 of 866 in Ontario and #342 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.
Wildfire is rare near Huntsville: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Huntsville’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 Huntsville, 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Huntsville’s homes have had no fire within 5 km since 1986; the closest was 15 km away.
Near or far, forest fuel covers a similar share around Huntsville: 16% within 5 km and 20% 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
Near-zero burning puts Huntsville with 638 of the 871 towns in Ontario, far below Sioux Lookout 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.
Most of the country’s 2,610 towns are low-band (92%, against 7.5% above); around Huntsville, burning 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.
Huntsville is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by District Municipality of Muskoka
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Huntsville: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
District Municipality of Muskoka studied flooding in an area that includes Huntsville (2024); open its map to see which streets lie in a flood zone.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| District of Muskoka Floodplain Mapping | District Municipality of Muskoka | 2024 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Its flood study puts Huntsville with 69% of towns in Ontario; Canada’s share is 58%.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood mapping is shown for Huntsville to be opened and checked, never turned into a grade.
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 Huntsville: $0.021 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Nothing unusual about Huntsville’s ground: $0.021 against a typical $0.030, 0.7 times.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.021, Huntsville 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.
Huntsville’s earthquake risk lands near the centre of Canada’s range; 63% of the 2,611 towns are higher.
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).
What a quake does after the shaking, fire, landslides, tsunami, falls outside NRCan’s figure for Huntsville.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Radon runs low around Huntsville: 0.9% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Huntsville’s survey area reads 0.9% over the guideline, under the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. For radon tests, the only official count covers all of the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit, Huntsville included.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Huntsville’s area, at 0.9%, is below the median in Ontario (4%).
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
The quietest radon band, under 5%, holds 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns and Huntsville; 63% sit 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.
Health Canada advises testing every home, Huntsville’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Huntsville
Alerts for Huntsville 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. |
Fire danger and active fires near Huntsville are mapped daily by the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System; evacuation orders come from the municipality or province.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Huntsville
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Huntsville | Low | $0.021 | 0.9% | Yes |
| Lake of Bays 4,105 · 15 km | Low | $0.021 | 0.9% | Yes |
Nowhere around Huntsville burns more: Lake of Bays, the closest rival, is low to its low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Huntsville faces
What to do about the hazards Huntsville 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. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Huntsville is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- 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 Huntsville.
- Wildfire counts one way. Burned land within 25 km of where people live, averaged over 1986–2025 and checked for fuel near homes, is the measure; it looks back, not ahead, and only ever counts against Huntsville.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Huntsville’s included.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Huntsville
How is Huntsville’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Huntsville grades A for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Does Huntsville flood?
There is flood mapping for Huntsville on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
How big is the earthquake risk in Huntsville?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Huntsville’s buildings lose $0.021 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is Huntsville at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0% of the land within 25 km of Huntsville has burned since 1986, the last in 1999, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
Is radon a problem in Huntsville?
In Health Canada’s survey, 0.9% of 109 homes tested in Huntsville’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
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).