Photo: Fungus Guy · CC BY-SA 3.0Hazard risk in Laird is lower than in 86% of Canadian towns
Little of the land around Laird has burned: 0% within 25 km since 1986, or 0.001% a year. Earthquakes matter little: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.005 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Laird’s survey area, 8.6% over the radon guideline, is close to the typical town’s 6.6%. Laird grades A for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Laird’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Laird: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Laird faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Laird: A
Two inputs always count for Laird, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Wildfire is rare near Laird: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0.3% within 5 km
Past fire around Laird’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
With 0.001% burned a year, Laird is among the many low-band places (the typical Canadian town 0.000%).
Near or far, forest fuel covers a similar share around Laird: 12% within 5 km and 13% 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 872
The land around Laird burns at 0.001% a year, the 83rd highest rate of 872 towns in Ontario; Sioux Lookout tops it 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.
Low, like 92% of the country’s 2,610 towns: the land around Laird burns, but slower than in the 7.5% 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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Laird
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Laird: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
An empty entry for Laird on the inventory isn’t proof of safety; ask locally for flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Ontario reaches 69% of towns, beside 58% across Canada, but not Laird.
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 Laird’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.”
Earthquakes cost buildings in Laird just $0.005 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Laird’s $0.005 is a fraction of the typical town’s $0.030 (0.2 times as much): quiet ground by Canadian standards.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.005, Laird 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.
At the bottom of Canada’s range, Laird has 96% of the 2,611 towns above it.
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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Laird’s figure, nor landslides or tsunami: it is buildings and shaking.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
8.6% of homes tested around Laird are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Measured across the The District of Algoma Health Unit: radon tests
Around Laird, 8.6% of tested homes topped the guideline, near the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Laird’s area, at 8.6%, is above the median in Ontario (4%), and 1.1% of its tests passed 600 Bq/m³.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Laird is in the 5–10% band with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% 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 Laird only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Laird
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Laird; 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 Laird come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Laird’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Laird | Low | $0.005 | 8.6% | None listed |
| Macdonald, Meredith and Aberdeen Additional 1,771 · 10 km | Low | $0.004 | 8.6% | None listed |
| St. Joseph 1,560 · 14 km | Low | $0.006 | 8.6% | None listed |
| Garden River 14 1,205 · 18 km | Low | $0.004 | 8.6% | None listed |
The neighbour with the most fire is St. Joseph (low), still no more than Laird (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Laird faces
What to do about the hazards Laird 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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- 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; Laird’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Laird’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Radon is a survey. The radon share comes from about 14,000 long-term home tests in 2009–2011, pooled for now by the 2007 health region Laird sits in.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. A study’s area can be a whole watershed or province, so being on the inventory says a map exists, not that a home in Laird floods.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Laird
Does Laird flood?
Nothing is listed for Laird on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
How is Laird’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Laird A, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is radon a problem in Laird?
In Health Canada’s survey, 8.6% of 93 homes tested in Laird’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Is Laird at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0% of the land within 25 km of Laird has burned since 1986, the last in 2025, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
How big is the earthquake risk in Laird?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Laird’s buildings lose $0.005 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).