Forest Hill is on Canada’s flood inventory: 1 listed, led by Grand River Conservation Authority
No wildfire is mapped within 25 km of Forest Hill’s homes since 1986 (0% of the land, 0.000% a year). Earthquake risk in Forest 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. Forest Hill grades A− for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Forest Hill’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Forest Hill: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Forest 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 Forest Hill: A−
The grade weighs Forest 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. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Wildfire is rare near Forest Hill: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Forest Hill’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Forty years of fire maps put Forest Hill at 0.000% a year, low next to the typical Canadian town’s 0.000%.
Forest makes up 0.7% of the land within 5 km of Forest Hill and 2.8% 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
Among the 871 towns in Ontario, Sioux Lookout burns fastest (0.16% a year); Forest Hill is with the 638 near 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.
92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are in the low band and 7.5% above it; Forest Hill is among the many where the yearly burn rate rounds to zero.
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.
A flood study covers Forest Hill, from Grand River Conservation Authority: 1 on the inventory
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Forest Hill: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
One study on the inventory touches Forest 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
Flood maps are common in Ontario: 69% of towns have one, against 58% nationally, and Forest Hill is among them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Nothing here counts toward Risk; the studies are pointers to the maps their owners keep for Forest Hill.
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.
Ordinary seismic risk in Forest Hill: $0.022 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Forest Hill’s $0.022 is close to the typical town’s $0.030 (0.7 times as much).
Forest Hill shares its earthquake risk numbers with the rest of the city of Kitchener.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in Ontario peaks in Alexandria ($0.21); Forest 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.
Forest Hill’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).
The model counts damage to Forest Hill’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).
Little radon around Forest Hill: 4% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Forest Hill’s survey area reads 4% over the guideline, under the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. Behind radon tests sits data gathered across the Waterloo Health Unit, with Forest Hill one part of it.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon around Forest 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.
Forest Hill is in the lowest band, with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns: under 5% of tests over the guideline, while 63% have 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.
Basements, soil and how a house is sealed decide its radon, so in Forest Hill only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Forest Hill
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Forest 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. |
For fires near Forest Hill, 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 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forest Hill | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| Meinzinger Park-Lakeside 5,007 · 0.8 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| Laurentian Hills 10,026 · 1.5 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| Victoria Hills 10,760 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| Forest Heights 14,369 · 1.9 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| Victoria Park 3,574 · 2.2 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| Southdale 5,277 · 2.3 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
Forest Hill’s low band tops its neighbours; Meinzinger Park-Lakeside is next (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Forest Hill faces
What to do about the hazards Forest 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
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Forest Hill’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Forest Hill is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. NRCan’s inventory says where flood mapping exists, not where water goes; the map’s owner is the authority for Forest Hill.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Forest Hill’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Forest Hill
How big is the earthquake risk in Forest Hill?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Forest Hill’s buildings lose $0.022 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Does Forest Hill flood?
There is flood mapping for Forest Hill on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
How is Forest Hill’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Forest Hill A−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is Forest Hill at risk of wildfire?
No meaningful wildfire history near Forest Hill: 0% of nearby land since 1986, band low.
Is radon a problem in Forest Hill?
In Health Canada’s survey, 4% of 101 homes tested in Forest Hill’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
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).