Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0Kemptville faces more hazards than 94% of Canadian towns
The national fire record shows next to nothing around Kemptville, 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). Earthquakes add more: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.14 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Radon is higher than usual: 19% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Kemptville grades D for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Kemptville’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Kemptville: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Kemptville faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Kemptville grades D for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Kemptville with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #2,526 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.
Few fires near Kemptville: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Past fire around Kemptville’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
With 0.000% burned a year, Kemptville is among the many low-band places (the typical Canadian town 0.000%).
About as much forest grows next to Kemptville’s homes (13% within 5 km) as across 25 km (12%).
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
Among the 871 towns in Ontario, Sioux Lookout burns fastest (0.16% a year); Kemptville is with the 638 near zero.
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.
The low band holds 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, and Kemptville sits at its very bottom; only 7.5% are above it.
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.
Kemptville is on the flood map inventory: 6 studies, latest by Rideau Valley Conservation Authority
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Kemptville: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
For Kemptville the inventory points to 6 studies, most recently Rideau Valley Conservation Authority’s in 2017.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rideau River, Kars to Burrits Rapids | Rideau Valley Conservation Authority | 2017 | final |
| Kemptville Creek | Rideau Valley Conservation Authority | 2009 | final |
| Jock River | Rideau Valley Conservation Authority | 2005 | final |
| Steven Creek | Rideau Valley Conservation Authority | 1995 | final |
| Rideau River Tributaries, Smiths Falls to Kars | Rideau Valley Conservation Authority | 1983 | final |
| Rideau River, Smiths Falls to Kars | Rideau Valley Conservation Authority | 1976 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are common in Ontario: 69% of towns have one, against 58% nationally, and Kemptville is among them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Studies touching Kemptville run from the 1970s to the 2010s, with the most in the 2000s: 2 of 6.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Kemptville.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Kemptville’s homes are at risk.
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.
High seismic risk in Kemptville: $0.14 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.14 per $1,000, Kemptville carries roughly 4.5 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in Ontario peaks in Alexandria ($0.21); Kemptville, at $0.14, sits above the median of $0.043.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Kemptville sits above most of Canada’s 2,611 towns on earthquake risk; 22% 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).
The model counts damage to Kemptville’s buildings and their occupants from shaking only: not liquefaction, landslides, tsunami or fires after a quake.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Radon runs high around Kemptville: 19% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Kemptville’s area, at 19%, is above the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town, so testing is worth more here than most places. Kemptville doesn’t get its own radon tests figures; the ones here come from the Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
More homes top the guideline around Kemptville (19%) than in the typical town in Ontario (4%); 1.9% went over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
More high tests than most: Kemptville sits in a band that only 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns share, with 4.6% above.
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.
A survey sample isn’t a map: any home in Kemptville can be high, and a three-month test is the only way to know.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Kemptville
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Kemptville; 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. |
Smoke and fire warnings for Kemptville come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Kemptville
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kemptville | Low | $0.14 | 19% | Yes |
| North Gower - Kars 5,439 · 16 km | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | Yes |
| Osgoode - Vernon 6,398 · 18 km | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | Yes |
Nowhere around Kemptville burns more: North Gower - Kars, 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 Kemptville faces
What to do about the hazards Kemptville 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.
- Drop, cover and hold on.
- Strap the water heater down.
- Keep 72 hours of supplies.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
- Is earthquake cover included?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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 Kemptville.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Kemptville is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- 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 Kemptville’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Kemptville’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Kemptville
Is Kemptville at risk of wildfire?
Very little by the national record: Kemptville’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Is radon a problem in Kemptville?
In Health Canada’s survey, 19% of 108 homes tested in Kemptville’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Does Kemptville flood?
There is flood mapping for Kemptville on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
How big is the earthquake risk in Kemptville?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Kemptville’s buildings lose $0.14 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
How is Kemptville’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Kemptville D, 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).