Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0Hazards in Kenora: wildfire low, radon over the guideline in 14% of tested homes
Burn scars are few around Kenora, with 0.8% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.02% a year). Seismic risk runs low: $0.004 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Hazard risk gives Kenora a grade of B+; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Kenora’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Kenora: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Kenora faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Kenora: B+
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Kenora with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #481 of 866 in Ontario and #930 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Wildfire is rare near Kenora: 0.8% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Kenora’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Kenora burns at 0.02% a year, low against 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Fire has stayed at least 18 km from Kenora’s homes since 1986.
Forest thickens with distance from Kenora: 55% of the land within 5 km, 74% 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
Kenora ranks 16th of the 871 towns in Ontario for burn rate, at 0.02% a year; Sioux Lookout leads with 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.
Some fire is mapped around Kenora, but not enough to leave the low band, where 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are; 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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Kenora
Flood studies whose area touches Kenora, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
The inventory has nothing for Kenora, but a local or conservation-authority map may still exist.
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Ontario reaches 69% of towns, beside 58% across Canada, but not Kenora.
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 Kenora.
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.”
Low seismic risk in Kenora: $0.004 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.
0.1 times the typical $0.030: Kenora’s $0.004 is low for Canada.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.004, Kenora 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.
Kenora is among Canada’s quietest towns for earthquakes: 98% of the 2,611 expect more damage.
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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Kenora’s figure, nor landslides or tsunami: it is buildings and shaking.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
14% of homes tested around Kenora are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · The radon tests numbers here cover the Northwestern Health Unit
More homes than usual test high around Kenora: 14% against 6.6% for the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Kenora than in most towns in Ontario: 14% over the guideline (4% is typical), 1.9% over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Kenora 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.
The share describes the area, not a house: in Kenora as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Kenora
Alerts for Kenora 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 Kenora to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Get ready for what Kenora faces
What to do about the hazards Kenora 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. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Kenora without grading them.
- 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 Kenora until then.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Kenora’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 Kenora’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Kenora
How big is the earthquake risk in Kenora?
Expected earthquake damage in Kenora comes to $0.004 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is Kenora at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0.8% of the land around Kenora since 1986 (last in 2025); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
Is radon a problem in Kenora?
Around Kenora, 210 survey homes were tested and 14% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Does Kenora flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Kenora’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
How is Kenora’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Kenora grades B+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
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).