Photo: Jfvoll · CC BY-SA 4.0Few places are as safe from hazards as Southcrest: it beats 90% of Canadian towns
Around Southcrest, wildfire is practically absent from the record: 0% within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. For earthquakes Southcrest 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 Southcrest a grade of A, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Southcrest’s hazards
For Southcrest, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Southcrest faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Southcrest: A
The grade weighs Southcrest’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. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Wildfire is rare near Southcrest: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Southcrest’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
A burn rate of 0.000% a year keeps Southcrest in the low band (the typical Canadian town: 0.000%).
Only 0.4% of the land within 25 km of Southcrest is forest fuel, and 0.4% close in.
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 Southcrest, 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.
Most of the country’s 2,610 towns are low-band (92%, against 7.5% above); around Southcrest, burning 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.
No flood study is listed for Southcrest
Flood studies whose area touches Southcrest, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Nationally, Southcrest has no listed flood study; the municipality is the place to ask.
Towns with a flood study on file
Southcrest 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.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Southcrest’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.”
Earthquakes cost buildings in Southcrest $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.
At $0.020 per $1,000, Southcrest’s earthquake risk is about the typical Canadian town’s ($0.030; 0.7 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Southcrest’s $0.020 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.
Southcrest’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).
What a quake does after the shaking, fire, landslides, tsunami, falls outside NRCan’s figure for Southcrest.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean). · Data for earthquake risk covers the city of London
Radon runs low around Southcrest: 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.
A lower share than most: 1.8% of tested homes around Southcrest, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs lower around Southcrest than in most towns in Ontario: 1.8% against 4%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Southcrest is in the lowest band, with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns: under 5% of tests over the guideline, while 63% 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.
Radon varies from house to house in Southcrest, so the survey is a reason to test, not a result for yours.
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 Southcrest
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Southcrest; 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. |
In fire season, check CWFIS for danger and active fires around Southcrest, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Southcrest’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southcrest | Low | $0.020 | 1.8% | None listed |
| Highland 19,963 · 2.0 km | Low | $0.020 | 1.8% | None listed |
| Westmount 19,591 · 2.1 km | Low | $0.020 | 1.8% | None listed |
| West London 24,322 · 2.7 km | Low | $0.020 | 1.8% | None listed |
| South London 14,684 · 2.9 km | Low | $0.020 | 1.8% | None listed |
| Bostwick 7,694 · 3.2 km | Low | $0.020 | 1.8% | Yes |
| Oakridge 16,247 · 3.6 km | Low | $0.020 | 1.8% | None listed |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Southcrest (low); Highland comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Southcrest faces
What to do about the hazards Southcrest 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. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Southcrest’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Wildfire counts one way. For Southcrest, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Southcrest is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- 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 Southcrest.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Southcrest
Is Southcrest at risk of wildfire?
Very little by the national record: Southcrest’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Does Southcrest flood?
Nothing is listed for Southcrest on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
How is Southcrest’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Southcrest 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 Southcrest?
Expected earthquake damage in Southcrest comes to $0.020 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is radon a problem in Southcrest?
In Health Canada’s survey, 1.8% of 110 homes tested in Southcrest’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
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).