Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0Hazard risk in Kapuskasing is lower than in 97% of Canadian towns
Wildfire is rare near Kapuskasing: 0.1% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, a burn rate of 0.004% a year. Shaking is less of a worry than in most places, at $0.015 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Radon is lower than usual: 1% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Kapuskasing grades A+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Kapuskasing’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Kapuskasing: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Kapuskasing faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Kapuskasing grades A+ for hazard risk
The grade weighs Kapuskasing’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: #13 of 866 in Ontario and #228 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.
Little of the land around Kapuskasing has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0.1% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Kapuskasing’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
In a typical year 0.004% of the land near Kapuskasing burns; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%, and both are low.
The 5 km ring around Kapuskasing’s homes is clear of burns since 1986, the nearest 8.9 km out.
Forest fuel covers 65% of the land close to Kapuskasing and 86% across 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
At 0.004% a year, Kapuskasing is near the top in Ontario: 45th of 871, behind Sioux Lookout (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.
7.5% of Canada’s 2,610 towns burn fast enough to rank moderate or above; Kapuskasing stays low, with 92%.
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.
No flood study is listed for Kapuskasing
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Kapuskasing: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Nationally, Kapuskasing has no listed flood study; the municipality is the place to ask.
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Ontario reaches 69% of towns, beside 58% across Canada, but not Kapuskasing.
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 Kapuskasing.
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 Kapuskasing just $0.015 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Kapuskasing’s $0.015 is a fraction of the typical town’s $0.030 (0.5 times as much): quiet ground by Canadian standards.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Ontario expects $0.043 a year in shaking damage; Kapuskasing expects less, $0.015, and Alexandria the most, $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.
Toward the quiet end of Canada’s range: 72% of its 2,611 towns sit above Kapuskasing.
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 Kapuskasing’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).
Little radon around Kapuskasing: 1% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Where the typical Canadian town has 6.6% of homes over the guideline, Kapuskasing’s area has fewer, 1%. Behind radon tests sits data gathered across the Porcupine Health Unit, with Kapuskasing one part of it.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs lower around Kapuskasing than in most towns in Ontario: 1% against 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 Kapuskasing; 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.
Basements, soil and how a house is sealed decide its radon, so in Kapuskasing only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Kapuskasing
Alerts for Kapuskasing 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. |
Alert Ready carries evacuation orders for Kapuskasing to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Kapuskasing’s neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kapuskasing | Low | $0.015 | 1% | None listed |
| Moonbeam 1,262 · 18 km | Low | $0.019 | 1% | None listed |
Moonbeam (low) has the heaviest fire record of Kapuskasing’s neighbours, and Kapuskasing (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Kapuskasing faces
What to do about the hazards Kapuskasing 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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- 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 Kapuskasing.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Kapuskasing takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Kapuskasing’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Shaking damage is modelled from the ground, the buildings and the odds of each quake, and published for whole subdivisions such as Kapuskasing’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Kapuskasing
Is radon a problem in Kapuskasing?
In Health Canada’s survey, 1% of 96 homes tested in Kapuskasing’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Is Kapuskasing at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0.1% of the land within 25 km of Kapuskasing has burned since 1986, the last in 1987, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
Does Kapuskasing flood?
Nothing is listed for Kapuskasing on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
How big is the earthquake risk in Kapuskasing?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Kapuskasing $0.015 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
How is Kapuskasing’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Kapuskasing A+, 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).