Photo: Julius177 · CC BY-SA 4.0Flood mapping exists for Cedar Hill: 1 on record, latest by Grand River Conservation Authority
Wildfire isn’t Cedar Hill’s worry: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (0.000% a year). Earthquake risk in Cedar Hill is ordinary: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.022 a year per $1,000 of value, close to the typical town’s $0.030. Radon is lower than usual: 4% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Cedar Hill a grade of A−, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Cedar Hill’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Cedar Hill: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Cedar Hill faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Cedar Hill: A−
Earthquake risk and radon make Cedar Hill’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
Its place: #237 of 866 in Ontario and #594 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 Cedar Hill: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Cedar Hill’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Around Cedar Hill fire takes 0.000% of the land in a typical year, the typical Canadian town 0.000%, which is low.
Around Cedar Hill the forest is thin or far off: 0.6% of the land within 5 km and 3.3% within 25 km is forest fuel.
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
Sioux Lookout has the highest burn rate in Ontario, 0.16% a year; around Cedar Hill, as around 638 of the 871 towns, it rounds to 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 Cedar Hill 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.
Cedar Hill is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Grand River Conservation Authority
Flood studies whose area touches Cedar Hill, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Grand River Conservation Authority holds the flood mapping that covers Cedar Hill (2018), linked below.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grand River Regulatory Floodplain | Grand River Conservation Authority | 2018 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are common in Ontario: 69% of towns have one, against 58% nationally, and Cedar Hill is among them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Cedar Hill floods.
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.
Expected shaking damage in Cedar Hill: $0.022 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.
Earthquake losses in Cedar Hill, $0.022 per $1,000, are in line with the typical $0.030 (0.7 times).
For earthquake risk, the only official count covers all of the city of Kitchener, Cedar Hill included.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Cedar Hill’s $0.022 sits under the median in Ontario, $0.043, and well under Alexandria’s $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 Cedar Hill (61%).
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 Cedar Hill’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).
Radon runs low around Cedar Hill: 4% of tested homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Measured across the Waterloo Health Unit: radon tests
At 4% over the guideline, the area around Cedar Hill is under the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon around Cedar Hill is ordinary for towns in Ontario: 4%, beside a median of 4%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
63% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have a higher share of homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Cedar Hill’s band, which holds 37%.
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 Cedar Hill as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Cedar Hill
Alerts for Cedar Hill 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 Cedar Hill 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)
How Cedar Hill’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cedar Hill | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| Mill Courtland Woodside Park 3,319 · 0.4 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| City Commercial Core 2,581 · 0.6 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| Auditorium 3,918 · 1.0 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| Victoria Park 3,574 · 1.1 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| Southdale 5,277 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| Central Frederick 5,895 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
The neighbour with the most fire is Mill Courtland Woodside Park (low), still no more than Cedar Hill (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Cedar Hill faces
Practical steps for Cedar Hill’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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- 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 Cedar Hill 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 Cedar Hill until then.
- 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 Cedar Hill’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Cedar Hill’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 Cedar Hill
Is Cedar Hill at risk of wildfire?
No meaningful wildfire history near Cedar Hill: 0% of nearby land since 1986, band low.
Does Cedar Hill flood?
A flood study covers Cedar Hill on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
How big is the earthquake risk in Cedar Hill?
About $0.022 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Cedar Hill.
Is radon a problem in Cedar Hill?
4% of the 101 homes Health Canada tested around Cedar Hill topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How is Cedar Hill’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Cedar Hill’s Hazard risk grade is A−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
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).