Photo: Jfvoll · CC BY-SA 4.0Few places are as safe from hazards as Oakridge: it beats 90% of Canadian towns
For Oakridge, wildfire history is close to nil: 0% of nearby land since 1986, 0.000% a year. Earthquake risk in Oakridge 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. In Health Canada’s survey, just 1.8% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Oakridge grades A for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Oakridge’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Oakridge: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Oakridge faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Oakridge grades A for hazard risk
The grade weighs Oakridge’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
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. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Few fires near Oakridge: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Oakridge’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Around Oakridge fire takes 0.000% of the land in a typical year, the typical Canadian town 0.000%, which is low.
With 0.8% forest fuel within 5 km and 0.4% within 25 km, the land around Oakridge 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
Near-zero burning puts Oakridge with 638 of the 871 towns in Ontario, far below Sioux Lookout 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.
Like most of Canada’s 2,610 towns (92%), Oakridge is in the low band, with a burn rate of zero to three decimals; 7.5% rank higher.
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 Oakridge
Flood studies whose area touches Oakridge, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Nationally, Oakridge has no listed flood study; the municipality is the place to ask.
Towns with a flood study on file
Missing from a well-mapped province: Oakridge 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.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Oakridge’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 Oakridge $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.
Oakridge’s $0.020 is close to the typical town’s $0.030 (0.7 times as much).
Behind earthquake risk sits data gathered across the city of London, with Oakridge one part of it.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in Ontario peaks in Alexandria ($0.21); Oakridge, at $0.020, 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.
Oakridge 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).
The model counts damage to Oakridge’s buildings and their occupants from shaking only: not liquefaction, landslides, tsunami or fires after a quake.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Radon runs low around Oakridge: 1.8% of tested homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Measured across the Middlesex-London Health Unit: radon tests
Oakridge’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
Fewer homes top the guideline around Oakridge (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.
Radon rarely tops the guideline around Oakridge, as for 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 63% see 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.
The survey sampled homes around Oakridge; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Oakridge
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Oakridge; 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 Oakridge, 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)
How Oakridge’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oakridge | Low | $0.020 | 1.8% | None listed |
| Hyde Park 14,769 · 2.5 km | Low | $0.020 | 1.8% | None listed |
| Byron 15,277 · 2.9 km | Low | $0.020 | 1.8% | None listed |
| West London 24,322 · 3.1 km | Low | $0.020 | 1.8% | None listed |
| Westmount 19,591 · 3.4 km | Low | $0.020 | 1.8% | None listed |
| River Bend 5,930 · 3.5 km | Low | $0.020 | 1.8% | None listed |
| Southcrest 14,477 · 3.6 km | Low | $0.020 | 1.8% | None listed |
Nowhere around Oakridge burns more: Hyde Park, 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 Oakridge faces
What to do about the hazards Oakridge 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. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Oakridge takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Shaking damage is modelled from the ground, the buildings and the odds of each quake, and published for whole subdivisions such as Oakridge’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Oakridge’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- 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 Oakridge.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Oakridge
How is Oakridge’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Oakridge’s Hazard risk grade is A, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is Oakridge at risk of wildfire?
No meaningful wildfire history near Oakridge: 0% of nearby land since 1986, band low.
Is radon a problem in Oakridge?
Around Oakridge, 110 survey homes were tested and 1.8% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How big is the earthquake risk in Oakridge?
About $0.020 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Oakridge.
Does Oakridge flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Oakridge’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
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).