Photo: JustSomePics · CC BY-SA 3.0Huron-Kinloss is on Canada’s flood inventory: 2 listed, led by Maitland Valley Conservation Authority
Fire has left almost no mark near Huron-Kinloss: 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. Earthquakes matter little: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.012 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Radon is higher than usual: 11% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Huron-Kinloss a grade of B+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Huron-Kinloss’s hazards
For Huron-Kinloss, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Huron-Kinloss faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Huron-Kinloss: B+
Seismic risk and radon set Huron-Kinloss’ grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
Its place: #605 of 866 in Ontario and #1,387 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.
Few fires near Huron-Kinloss: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Huron-Kinloss’ residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
The land within 25 km of Huron-Kinloss burns at 0.000% a year on average, the low band; the typical Canadian town: 0.000%.
Land that isn’t forest covers nearly all the ground around Huron-Kinloss: forest fuel is 1.9% within 5 km and 2.6% 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, Huron-Kinloss 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.
Measured against 2,610 towns, Huron-Kinloss is in the largest group, low (92%), and at its floor, while 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.
Huron-Kinloss is on the flood map inventory: 2 studies, latest by Maitland Valley Conservation Authority
Flood studies whose area touches Huron-Kinloss, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
The newest of 2 studies covering Huron-Kinloss is Maitland Valley Conservation Authority’s, from 2024; open its map to see the zones.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maitland Valley Shoreline Hazard Mapping Update (2023) | Maitland Valley Conservation Authority | 2024 | final |
| Huron Kinloss Flood Hazard Mapping | Saugeen Valley 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%; Huron-Kinloss 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 Huron-Kinloss.
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.
Low seismic risk in Huron-Kinloss: $0.012 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.
Shaking costs the typical town $0.030 a year; in Huron-Kinloss it is only $0.012, 0.4 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.012, Huron-Kinloss 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.
Earthquakes cost less around Huron-Kinloss than in 84% 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).
What a quake does after the shaking, fire, landslides, tsunami, falls outside NRCan’s figure for Huron-Kinloss.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Test for radon in Huron-Kinloss: 11% of area homes were over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Huron-Kinloss’ survey area reads 11% over the guideline, well past the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. Huron-Kinloss 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
Huron-Kinloss’ area, at 11%, 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.
4.6% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have a higher share of homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Huron-Kinloss, in the 10–20% band with 22%.
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 Huron-Kinloss, 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 Huron-Kinloss
Alerts for Huron-Kinloss 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 Huron-Kinloss 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 Huron-Kinloss
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Huron-Kinloss | Low | $0.012 | 11% | Yes |
| Kincardine 13,169 · 19 km | Low | $0.012 | 11% | Yes |
Huron-Kinloss’ low band tops its neighbours; Kincardine is next (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Huron-Kinloss faces
Practical steps for Huron-Kinloss’ 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
- Wildfire counts one way. For Huron-Kinloss, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- 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 Huron-Kinloss floods.
- 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 Huron-Kinloss sits in.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Huron-Kinloss’ census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
Questions about flooding and hazards in Huron-Kinloss
How is Huron-Kinloss’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Huron-Kinloss grades B+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is radon a problem in Huron-Kinloss?
The area’s survey found 11% of 98 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Huron-Kinloss.
How big is the earthquake risk in Huron-Kinloss?
About $0.012 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Huron-Kinloss.
Is Huron-Kinloss at risk of wildfire?
Hardly at all on record: 0% of the land within 25 km of Huron-Kinloss since 1986, a low band, though small grass fires aren’t mapped.
Does Huron-Kinloss flood?
Huron-Kinloss’ area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
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).