Photo: Ryan Hodnett · CC BY-SA 4.0Flood mapping exists for Highland West: 1 on record, latest by Grand River Conservation Authority
Around Highland West, wildfire is practically absent from the record: 0% within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. Seismic risk in Highland West sits near the middle: $0.022 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $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. Highland West grades A− for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Highland West’s hazards
For Highland West, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Highland West faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Highland West: A−
Two inputs always count for Highland West, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
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 Highland West: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Highland West’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Low by Canadian standards: 0.000% of the land a year around Highland West, 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Land that isn’t forest covers nearly all the ground around Highland West: forest fuel is 0.9% within 5 km and 2.6% within 25 km.
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, Highland West 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.
The low band holds 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, and Highland West 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.
A flood study covers Highland West, from Grand River Conservation Authority: 1 on the inventory
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Highland West: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The flood study touching Highland West 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
Mapping in Ontario reaches 69% of towns, Highland West included, beside 58% across Canada.
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 Highland West’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.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Highland West $0.022 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Highland West’s $0.022 is close to the typical town’s $0.030 (0.7 times as much).
Behind earthquake risk sits data gathered across the city of Kitchener, with Highland West one part of it.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Highland West’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.
Highland West sits mid-range among Canada’s 2,611 towns: 61% expect more shaking damage.
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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in Highland West is counted; landslides, liquefaction, tsunami and fire after a quake aren’t.
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 Highland West: 4% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Measured across the Waterloo Health Unit: radon tests
Where the typical Canadian town has 6.6% of homes over the guideline, Highland West’s area has fewer, 4%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The typical town in Ontario has 4% over 200 Bq/m³; Highland West’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 Highland West, 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.
Neighbouring homes in Highland West can differ a lot; only a long-term test tells you about yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Highland West
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Highland West; 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 Highland West come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Highland West
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Highland West | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| Forest Heights 14,369 · 1.8 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| Victoria Hills 10,760 · 1.9 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| Westmount 5,048 · 2.2 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| Forest Hill 5,760 · 2.7 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| Meinzinger Park-Lakeside 5,007 · 3.3 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| Cherry Hill 6,304 · 3.3 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
Fire is no heavier anywhere nearby than around Highland West (low), with Forest Heights next at low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Highland West faces
What to do about the hazards Highland West 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. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Highland West’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 Highland West.
- 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 Highland West.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Highland West is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Highland West
Is Highland West at risk of wildfire?
Hardly at all on record: 0% of the land within 25 km of Highland West since 1986, a low band, though small grass fires aren’t mapped.
How is Highland West’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Highland West A−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is radon a problem in Highland West?
Around Highland West, 101 survey homes were tested and 4% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Does Highland West flood?
There is flood mapping for Highland West on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
How big is the earthquake risk in Highland West?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Highland West $0.022 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
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).