Photo: JFVoll · CC BY-SA 4.0A flood study covers Forest Heights: 1 on the national inventory, the newest from Grand River Conservation Authority
For Forest Heights, wildfire history is close to nil: 0% of nearby land since 1986, 0.000% a year. NRCan expects $0.022 of shaking damage a year per $1,000 of buildings in Forest Heights, near the typical $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 Forest Heights a grade of A−, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Forest Heights’s hazards
For Forest Heights, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Forest Heights faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Forest Heights: A−
Earthquake risk and radon make Forest Heights’ 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. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Few fires near Forest Heights: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Past fire around Forest Heights’ homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The yearly burn rate around Forest Heights is 0.000%, low beside 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
With 1.2% forest fuel within 5 km and 2.6% within 25 km, the land around Forest Heights gives a fire little to burn.
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
Near-zero burning puts Forest Heights with 638 of the 871 towns in Ontario, far below Sioux Lookout 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.
Forest Heights 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 Forest Heights (1 study)
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Forest Heights: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The flood study touching Forest Heights is Grand River Conservation Authority’s, dated 2018; its own map shows the zones street by street.
| 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 Forest Heights is among them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Forest Heights’ homes stand in a flood zone.
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.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Forest Heights $0.022 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Nothing unusual about Forest Heights’ ground: $0.022 against a typical $0.030, 0.7 times.
Behind earthquake risk sits data gathered across the city of Kitchener, with Forest Heights one part of it.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Ontario expects $0.043 a year in shaking damage; Forest Heights expects less, $0.022, and Alexandria the most, $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.
Neither high nor low for Canada: 61% of the 2,611 towns expect more damage than Forest Heights.
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 Forest Heights.
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 Forest Heights: 4% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Fewer homes than usual test high around Forest Heights: 4% against 6.6% for the typical Canadian town. For radon tests, the only official count covers all of the Waterloo Health Unit, Forest Heights included.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon around Forest Heights 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.
Under 5% puts Forest Heights with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 63% have more high tests.
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.
A low area share in Forest Heights doesn’t clear a house, nor does a high one condemn it: test.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Forest Heights
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Forest Heights; 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 Forest Heights, 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)
How Forest Heights’ neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forest Heights | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| Highland West 12,476 · 1.8 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| Forest Hill 5,760 · 1.9 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| Victoria Hills 10,760 · 2.5 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| Laurentian West 16,857 · 2.5 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| Meinzinger Park-Lakeside 5,007 · 2.8 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| Laurentian Hills 10,026 · 3.0 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
The neighbour with the most fire is Highland West (low), still no more than Forest Heights (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Forest Heights faces
Practical steps for Forest Heights’ 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 Forest Heights without grading them.
- 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 Forest Heights.
- 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 Forest Heights until then.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Forest Heights’ included.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Forest Heights
Is radon a problem in Forest Heights?
The area’s survey found 4% of 101 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Forest Heights.
Does Forest Heights flood?
A flood study covers Forest Heights on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
How is Forest Heights’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Forest Heights’ Hazard risk grade is A−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
How big is the earthquake risk in Forest Heights?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Forest Heights’ buildings lose $0.022 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is Forest Heights at risk of wildfire?
The burned-area record shows next to nothing around Forest Heights (0% within 25 km since 1986), so its band is low.
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).