Photo: WabbitWanderer from London, Canada · CC BY-SA 2.0Hazard risk in Carling is lower than in 90% of Canadian towns
Wildfire isn’t Carling’s worry: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (0.000% a year). Earthquake risk in Carling is ordinary: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.020 a year per $1,000 of value, close to the typical town’s $0.030. Fewer homes than usual carry radon here, 1.8% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Carling a grade of A, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Carling’s hazards
For Carling, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Carling faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Carling: A
Two inputs always count for Carling, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
Its place: #43 of 866 in Ontario and #347 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Wildfire is rare near Carling: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Carling’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Next to the typical Canadian town (0.000% a year), Carling’s 0.000% is in the low band.
Little near Carling’s homes can carry a forest fire; only 0.7% of the land within 5 km is forest fuel, and 0.5% 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
Among the 871 towns in Ontario, Sioux Lookout burns fastest (0.16% a year); Carling is with the 638 near 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.
The low band holds 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, and Carling 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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Carling
Flood studies whose area touches Carling, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
NRCan’s inventory is silent on Carling, so any flood map would be the municipality’s own.
Towns with a flood study on file
Missing from a well-mapped province: Carling has no study, where 69% of towns in Ontario have one against 58% nationally.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Carling floods.
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.”
Ordinary seismic risk in Carling: $0.020 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.
With $0.020 of shaking damage a year per $1,000, Carling is about even with the typical $0.030 (0.7 times).
Figures for earthquake risk are published for the city of London as a whole, not for Carling alone.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Below the middle in Ontario: Carling’s $0.020 against a median of $0.043; Alexandria has $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.
Carling sits mid-range among Canada’s 2,611 towns: 64% 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).
What a quake does after the shaking, fire, landslides, tsunami, falls outside NRCan’s figure for Carling.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
1.8% of homes tested around Carling are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Where the typical Canadian town has 6.6% of homes over the guideline, Carling’s area has fewer, 1.8%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Fewer homes top the guideline around Carling (1.8%) than in the typical town in Ontario (4%).
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
The quietest radon band, under 5%, holds 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns and Carling; 63% sit higher.
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, Carling’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Area behind the radon tests figures: the Middlesex-London Health Unit
Where to get warnings in Carling
Alerts for Carling come from Environment and Climate Change Canada and, for emergencies, Alert Ready.
| 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. |
Fire danger and active fires near Carling are mapped daily by the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System; evacuation orders come from the municipality or province.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Carling
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carling | Low | $0.020 | 1.8% | None listed |
| North London 9,584 · 2.0 km | Low | $0.020 | 1.8% | None listed |
| Huron Heights 20,890 · 2.2 km | Low | $0.020 | 1.8% | None listed |
| Stoneybrook 7,662 · 2.6 km | Low | $0.020 | 1.8% | None listed |
| East London 10,972 · 2.8 km | Low | $0.020 | 1.8% | None listed |
| Central London 19,363 · 3.1 km | Low | $0.020 | 1.8% | None listed |
| Stoney Creek 9,387 · 3.6 km | Low | $0.020 | 1.8% | None listed |
Nowhere around Carling burns more: North London, the closest rival, is low to its low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Carling faces
What to do about the hazards Carling 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
- Radon is a survey. Radon figures pool the survey’s home tests by area: postal areas once their boundaries arrive, the 2007 health region around Carling until then.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Carling without grading them.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Carling, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Carling’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
Questions about flooding and hazards in Carling
Does Carling flood?
Nothing is listed for Carling on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
How is Carling’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Carling A, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is radon a problem in Carling?
In Health Canada’s survey, 1.8% of 110 homes tested in Carling’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Is Carling at risk of wildfire?
Very little by the national record: Carling’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Carling?
About $0.020 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Carling.
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).