Photo: Michael Hiemstra from Canada · CC BY 2.0Flood mapping exists for Rosenberg: 1 on record, latest by Grand River Conservation Authority
Fire has left almost no mark near Rosenberg: 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. NRCan expects $0.022 of shaking damage a year per $1,000 of buildings in Rosenberg, 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 Rosenberg a grade of A−, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Rosenberg’s hazards
For Rosenberg, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Rosenberg faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Rosenberg: A−
Seismic risk and radon set Rosenberg’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
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 Rosenberg: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Rosenberg’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
With 0.000% burned a year, Rosenberg is among the many low-band places (the typical Canadian town 0.000%).
Land that isn’t forest covers nearly all the ground around Rosenberg: forest fuel is 1.3% within 5 km and 3% 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
To three decimals the burn rate around Rosenberg is zero, as for 638 of the 871 towns in Ontario, while Sioux Lookout reaches 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.
The low band holds 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, and Rosenberg 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.
Rosenberg is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Grand River Conservation Authority
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Rosenberg: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
One study on the inventory touches Rosenberg, 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 Rosenberg 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 is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Rosenberg’s 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 Rosenberg $0.022 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Nothing unusual about Rosenberg’s ground: $0.022 against a typical $0.030, 0.7 times.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in Ontario peaks in Alexandria ($0.21); Rosenberg, 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 Rosenberg (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 Rosenberg.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean). · Earthquake risk: one figure for all of the city of Kitchener
Radon runs low around Rosenberg: 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
At 4% over the guideline, the area around Rosenberg is under the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The typical town in Ontario has 4% over 200 Bq/m³; Rosenberg’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.
63% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have a higher share of homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Rosenberg’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.
Health Canada advises testing every home, Rosenberg’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Rosenberg
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Rosenberg; 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 Rosenberg, 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)
Hazards in the places around Rosenberg
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rosenberg | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| Huron South 5,555 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| Country Hills West 5,936 · 2.3 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| Laurentian West 16,857 · 2.8 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| Country Hills 4,561 · 3.2 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| Laurentian Hills 10,026 · 3.7 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| Alpine 3,055 · 3.8 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
The neighbour with the most fire is Huron South (low), still no more than Rosenberg (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Rosenberg faces
Practical steps for Rosenberg’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
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Rosenberg takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Rosenberg’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- 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 Rosenberg.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Rosenberg, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Rosenberg
Does Rosenberg flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Rosenberg; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
How is Rosenberg’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Rosenberg grades A− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is radon a problem in Rosenberg?
The area’s survey found 4% of 101 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Rosenberg.
Is Rosenberg at risk of wildfire?
The burned-area record shows next to nothing around Rosenberg (0% within 25 km since 1986), so its band is low.
How big is the earthquake risk in Rosenberg?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Rosenberg’s buildings lose $0.022 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
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).