Photo: JFVoll · CC BY-SA 3.0Cherry Hill is on Canada’s flood inventory: 1 listed, led by Grand River Conservation Authority
Around Cherry Hill, wildfire is practically absent from the record: 0% within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. Shaking is about as much of a worry in Cherry Hill as in most places, at $0.022 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). 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 Cherry Hill a grade of A−, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Cherry Hill’s hazards
For Cherry Hill, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Cherry Hill faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Cherry Hill grades A− for hazard risk
The grade weighs Cherry Hill’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: #237 of 866 in Ontario and #594 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Wildfire is rare near Cherry Hill: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Cherry Hill’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The yearly burn rate around Cherry Hill is 0.000%, low beside 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Forest makes up 0.6% of the land within 5 km of Cherry Hill and 2.9% within 25 km, little for a forest fire to run through.
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
Of the 871 towns in Ontario, 638 have a burn rate that rounds to zero, Cherry Hill among them; Sioux Lookout leads at 0.16% a year.
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.
Like most of Canada’s 2,610 towns (92%), Cherry Hill is in the low band, with a burn rate of zero to three decimals; 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.
Grand River Conservation Authority has mapped flooding for Cherry Hill (1 study)
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Cherry Hill: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
One study on the inventory touches Cherry Hill, Grand River Conservation Authority’s from 2018, and its area can be large, so it says a map exists, not that the town floods.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grand River Regulatory Floodplain | Grand River Conservation Authority | 2018 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Its flood study puts Cherry Hill with 69% of towns in Ontario; Canada’s share is 58%.
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 Cherry Hill’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.
Expected shaking damage in Cherry Hill: $0.022 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
With $0.022 of shaking damage a year per $1,000, Cherry Hill is about even with the typical $0.030 (0.7 times).
Figures for earthquake risk are published for the city of Kitchener as a whole, not for Cherry Hill alone.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in Ontario peaks in Alexandria ($0.21); Cherry Hill, at $0.022, is below 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.
Around half of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Cherry 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).
What a quake does after the shaking, fire, landslides, tsunami, falls outside NRCan’s figure for Cherry Hill.
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 Cherry Hill: 4% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Area-wide: radon tests, counted over the Waterloo Health Unit
Fewer homes than usual test high around Cherry Hill: 4% against 6.6% for the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The typical town in Ontario has 4% over 200 Bq/m³; Cherry Hill’s area has 4%, much the same.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Radon rarely tops the guideline around Cherry Hill, as for 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 63% see more.
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.
Health Canada advises testing every home, Cherry Hill’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Cherry Hill
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Cherry Hill; 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 Cherry Hill come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Cherry Hill’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cherry Hill | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| Victoria Park 3,574 · 1.1 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| Westmount 5,048 · 1.2 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| Victoria Hills 10,760 · 1.5 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| Mt. Hope Huron Park 5,174 · 1.6 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| City Commercial Core 2,581 · 1.8 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| Mill Courtland Woodside Park 3,319 · 1.9 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
Cherry Hill’s low band tops its neighbours; Victoria Park is next (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Cherry Hill faces
What to do about the hazards Cherry Hill 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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Wildfire counts one way. Burned land within 25 km of where people live, averaged over 1986–2025 and checked for fuel near homes, is the measure; it looks back, not ahead, and only ever counts against Cherry Hill.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Cherry Hill’s included.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Cherry Hill takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- 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 Cherry Hill.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Cherry Hill
Does Cherry Hill flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Cherry Hill; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
Is Cherry Hill at risk of wildfire?
Very little by the national record: Cherry Hill’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
How is Cherry Hill’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Cherry Hill grades A− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Cherry Hill?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Cherry Hill $0.022 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is radon a problem in Cherry Hill?
Around Cherry Hill, 101 survey homes were tested and 4% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
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).