Photo: WabbitWanderer from London, Canada · CC BY-SA 2.0Hazard risk in Little Current is lower than in 93% of Canadian towns
Little of the land around Little Current has burned: 0.1% within 25 km since 1986, or 0.003% a year. Seismic risk runs low: $0.008 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Radon around Little Current is ordinary for Canada: 5.2% of tested homes over the guideline (6.6% typical). Hazard risk gives Little Current a grade of A; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Little Current’s hazards
For Little Current, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Little Current faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Little Current grades A for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Little Current with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #29 of 866 in Ontario and #271 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.
Little of the land around Little Current has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0.1% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Little Current’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Fire claims 0.003% of the land around Little Current each year, a low band, with the typical Canadian town at 0.000%.
No fire has burned within 5 km of Little Current’s homes since 1986; the nearest burn is 17 km away.
Forest thickens with distance from Little Current: 22% of the land within 5 km, 37% 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
Little Current ranks 50th of the 871 towns in Ontario for burn rate, at 0.003% a year; Sioux Lookout leads with 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 Little Current 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.
No flood study is listed for Little Current
Flood studies whose area touches Little Current, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
An empty entry for Little Current on the inventory isn’t proof of safety; ask locally for flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Little Current has no flood study on file, though 69% of towns in Ontario do (Canada: 58%).
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 Little Current.
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.”
Low seismic risk in Little Current: $0.008 per $1,000 of buildings a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Little Current’s $0.008 is a fraction of the typical town’s $0.030 (0.3 times as much): quiet ground by Canadian standards.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Little Current’s $0.008 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.
Little Current is in the lower part of Canada’s range for earthquake risk; 87% 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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in Little Current 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 about average around Little Current: 5.2% over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Area-wide: radon tests, counted over the Sudbury and District Health Unit
Near the middle for radon: Little Current’s area 5.2%, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Little Current, 5.2% of tests were over 200 Bq/m³ and 1% over 600, against a median of 4% in Ontario.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
26% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have more homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Little Current’s 5–10% 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.
Whatever Little Current’s area share, the reading that matters is your own home’s, over a winter.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Little Current
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Little Current; 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 Little Current, 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)
Get ready for what Little Current faces
What to do about the hazards Little Current 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. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Little Current’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 Little Current.
- 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 Little Current.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Little Current is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Little Current
Is Little Current at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0.1% of the land within 25 km of Little Current has burned since 1986, the last in 2025, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
How is Little Current’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Little Current A, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
How big is the earthquake risk in Little Current?
About $0.008 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Little Current.
Is radon a problem in Little Current?
In Health Canada’s survey, 5.2% of 97 homes tested in Little Current’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Does Little Current flood?
Nothing is listed for Little Current on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
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).