Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domainFew places are as safe from hazards as Bostwick: it beats 90% of Canadian towns
Since 1986 almost nothing has burned near Bostwick: 0% of the land within 25 km, or 0.000% a year. For earthquakes Bostwick is middling, $0.020 a year per $1,000 against $0.030 for the typical town. Radon is lower than usual: 1.8% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Bostwick a grade of A, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Bostwick’s hazards
For Bostwick, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Bostwick faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Bostwick grades A for hazard risk
Seismic risk and radon set Bostwick’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
Its place: #43 of 866 in Ontario and #347 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.
Few fires near Bostwick: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Bostwick’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Bostwick burns at 0.000% a year, low against 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
With 0.3% forest fuel within 5 km and 0.4% within 25 km, the land around Bostwick gives a fire little to burn.
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
Sioux Lookout has the highest burn rate in Ontario, 0.16% a year; around Bostwick, as around 638 of the 871 towns, it rounds to 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; Bostwick 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.
Kettle Creek Conservation Authority has mapped flooding for Bostwick (1 study)
Flood studies whose area touches Bostwick, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
One study on the inventory touches Bostwick, Kettle Creek Conservation Authority’s from 2024, and its area can be large, so it says a map exists, not that the town floods.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dodd Creek Enhanced Riverine Floodplain Mapping | Kettle Creek Conservation Authority | 2024 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are common in Ontario: 69% of towns have one, against 58% nationally, and Bostwick is among them.
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 Bostwick’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 Bostwick $0.020 per $1,000 a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
With $0.020 of shaking damage a year per $1,000, Bostwick is about even with the typical $0.030 (0.7 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Ontario expects $0.043 a year in shaking damage; Bostwick expects less, $0.020, and Alexandria the most, $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.
Bostwick’s earthquake risk lands near the centre of Canada’s range; 64% 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 Bostwick 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). · Area behind the earthquake risk figures: the city of London
Little radon around Bostwick: 1.8% of area homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Source area for radon tests: the Middlesex-London Health Unit
Bostwick’s area, at 1.8%, is below the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town, though any one home can still be high.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The median in Ontario is 4% over 200 Bq/m³; around Bostwick it is 1.8%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Few tests over the guideline: Bostwick shares the bottom band with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, below the other 63%.
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, Bostwick’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Bostwick
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Bostwick; 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 Bostwick, 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 Bostwick
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bostwick | Low | $0.020 | 1.8% | Yes |
| Highland 19,963 · 2.3 km | Low | $0.020 | 1.8% | None listed |
| White Oaks 21,108 · 2.6 km | Low | $0.020 | 1.8% | None listed |
| Westmount 19,591 · 2.9 km | Low | $0.020 | 1.8% | None listed |
| Talbot 8,085 · 3.1 km | Low | $0.020 | 1.8% | None listed |
| Southcrest 14,477 · 3.2 km | Low | $0.020 | 1.8% | None listed |
| Lambeth 2,609 · 3.4 km | Low | $0.020 | 1.8% | None listed |
The neighbour with the most fire is Highland (low), still no more than Bostwick (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Bostwick faces
Practical steps for Bostwick’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
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Bostwick’s included.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Bostwick is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- 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 Bostwick.
- 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 Bostwick.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Bostwick
Is radon a problem in Bostwick?
1.8% of the 110 homes Health Canada tested around Bostwick topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
Does Bostwick flood?
There is flood mapping for Bostwick on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
Is Bostwick at risk of wildfire?
The burned-area record shows next to nothing around Bostwick (0% within 25 km since 1986), so its band is low.
How is Bostwick’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Bostwick grades A for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Bostwick?
About $0.020 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Bostwick.
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).