Photo: Jason F. Voll · CC BY-SA 3.0A flood study covers Fairfield: 1 on the national inventory, the newest from Grand River Conservation Authority
No wildfire is mapped within 25 km of Fairfield’s homes since 1986 (0% of the land, 0.000% a year). Shaking is about as much of a worry in Fairfield as in most places, at $0.022 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). In Health Canada’s survey, just 4% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Hazard risk gives Fairfield a grade of A−, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Fairfield’s hazards
For Fairfield, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Fairfield faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Fairfield: A−
For Fairfield, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
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.
Little of the land around Fairfield has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Fairfield’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
The land within 25 km of Fairfield burns at 0.000% a year on average, the low band; the typical Canadian town: 0.000%.
Around Fairfield the forest is thin or far off: 1.4% of the land within 5 km and 3.4% 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
Fire has taken almost none of the land around Fairfield, as for 638 of the 871 towns in Ontario; Sioux Lookout tops the list at 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.
Fairfield shares the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, its burn rate rounding to nothing; 7.5% burn faster.
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 Fairfield (1 study)
Flood studies whose area touches Fairfield, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Grand River Conservation Authority holds the flood mapping that covers Fairfield (2018), linked below.
| 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 Fairfield 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.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Fairfield.
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 Fairfield: $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 Fairfield, $0.022 per $1,000, are in line with the typical $0.030 (0.7 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.022, Fairfield 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.
Fairfield’s earthquake risk lands near the centre of Canada’s range; 61% of the 2,611 towns 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).
For Fairfield the model prices shaking damage to buildings, nothing more.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean). · Earthquake risk: the city of Kitchener
Little radon around Fairfield: 4% of area homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Source area for radon tests: the Waterloo Health Unit
At 4% over the guideline, the area around Fairfield is under the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon around Fairfield 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 Fairfield’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.
Radon varies from house to house in Fairfield, so the survey is a reason to test, not a result for yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Fairfield
Alerts for Fairfield 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 Fairfield to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Fairfield’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fairfield | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| Mt. Hope Huron Park 5,174 · 0.4 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| Central Frederick 5,895 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| Bridgeport East 3,903 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| City Commercial Core 2,581 · 1.6 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| Cherry Hill 6,304 · 2.0 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| Auditorium 3,918 · 2.1 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Fairfield (low); Mt. Hope Huron Park comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Fairfield faces
Practical steps for Fairfield’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. The flood inventory points to maps; it is incomplete and not the official source, so ask the municipality about any street in Fairfield.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Fairfield takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Fairfield’s included.
- 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 Fairfield.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Fairfield
Is Fairfield at risk of wildfire?
Hardly at all on record: 0% of the land within 25 km of Fairfield since 1986, a low band, though small grass fires aren’t mapped.
How is Fairfield’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Fairfield’s Hazard risk grade is A−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Does Fairfield flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Fairfield; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Fairfield?
Expected earthquake damage in Fairfield comes to $0.022 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is radon a problem in Fairfield?
The area’s survey found 4% of 101 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Fairfield.
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).