Photo: Town of Kirkland Lake · CC BY-SA 4.0Kirkland Lake’s hazards at a glance: a low wildfire record and 7.8% of area homes over the radon guideline
Wildfire is rare near Kirkland Lake: 0.6% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, a burn rate of 0.02% a year. Seismic risk in Kirkland Lake sits near the middle: $0.036 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Hazard risk gives Kirkland Lake a grade of B; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Kirkland Lake’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Kirkland Lake: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Kirkland Lake faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Kirkland Lake grades B for hazard risk
Seismic risk and radon set Kirkland Lake’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
Its place: #625 of 866 in Ontario and #1,436 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 Kirkland Lake: 0.6% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 6.4% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Kirkland Lake’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Around Kirkland Lake fire takes 0.02% of the land in a typical year, the typical Canadian town 0.000%, which is low.
69% of the land within 5 km of Kirkland Lake is forest fuel, close to the 72% 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
At 0.02% a year, Kirkland Lake is near the top in Ontario: 20th 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.
Kirkland Lake is in the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns; 7.5% sit in moderate or 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 Kirkland Lake
Flood studies whose area touches Kirkland Lake, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
There is no study for Kirkland Lake on the national flood inventory, which is far from complete.
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Ontario reaches 69% of towns, beside 58% across Canada, but not Kirkland Lake.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Kirkland Lake’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.”
Expected shaking damage in Kirkland Lake: $0.036 a year per $1,000
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Nothing unusual about Kirkland Lake’s ground: $0.036 against a typical $0.030, 1.2 times.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The median in Ontario is $0.043; Kirkland Lake, at $0.036, is right beside it, and Alexandria tops the list 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.
Around half of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Kirkland Lake (46%).
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 Kirkland Lake’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).
Some radon around Kirkland Lake: 7.8% of area homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Near the middle for radon: Kirkland Lake’s area 7.8%, the typical Canadian town 6.6%. Nobody publishes radon tests for Kirkland Lake alone, so this card uses the figure for the Timiskaming Health Unit.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Kirkland Lake than in most towns in Ontario: 7.8% over the guideline (4% is typical), 1% over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns share Kirkland Lake’s band of 5 to 10%; 26% 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.
One home in Kirkland Lake can be high while next door is low; a three-month test settles it.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Kirkland Lake
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Kirkland Lake; 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. |
For fires near Kirkland Lake, the national fire information system maps danger and active fires daily; local authorities give any evacuation order.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Get ready for what Kirkland Lake faces
Practical steps for Kirkland Lake’s 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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Kirkland Lake’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- 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 Kirkland Lake sits in.
- 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 Kirkland Lake floods.
- 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 Kirkland Lake’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Kirkland Lake
Is Kirkland Lake at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Kirkland Lake’s band is low, with 0.6% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2012), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Does Kirkland Lake flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Kirkland Lake (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
How big is the earthquake risk in Kirkland Lake?
Expected earthquake damage in Kirkland Lake comes to $0.036 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is radon a problem in Kirkland Lake?
7.8% of the 103 homes Health Canada tested around Kirkland Lake topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How is Kirkland Lake’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Kirkland Lake B, 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).