Photo: Scott Webb scottwebb · CC0Few places are as safe from hazards as Westminster: it beats 90% of Canadian towns
Since 1986 almost nothing has burned near Westminster: 0% of the land within 25 km, or 0.000% a year. For earthquakes Westminster is middling, $0.020 a year per $1,000 against $0.030 for the typical town. Fewer homes than usual carry radon here, 1.8% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Westminster a grade of A, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Westminster’s hazards
For Westminster, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Westminster faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Westminster grades A for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Westminster with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
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 Westminster: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Westminster’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Low: the land around Westminster burns at 0.000% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Only 0.4% of the land within 25 km of Westminster is forest fuel, and 0.2% 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
Near-zero burning puts Westminster 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.
Most of the country’s 2,610 towns are low-band (92%, against 7.5% above); around Westminster, 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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Westminster
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Westminster: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists no study whose area touches Westminster, which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped.
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Ontario reaches 69% of towns, beside 58% across Canada, but not Westminster.
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 Westminster.
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 Westminster $0.020 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
With $0.020 of shaking damage a year per $1,000, Westminster 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; Westminster 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.
Neither high nor low for Canada: 64% of the 2,611 towns expect more damage than Westminster.
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 Westminster.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean). · Earthquake risk published for the city of London, not by town
Little radon around Westminster: 1.8% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Radon runs below the typical Canadian town (6.6%) in Westminster’s area, at 1.8%. Westminster doesn’t get its own radon tests figures; the ones here come from the Middlesex-London Health Unit.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Westminster’s area, at 1.8%, is below the median in Ontario (4%).
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Westminster 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.
A low area share in Westminster doesn’t clear a house, nor does a high one condemn it: test.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Westminster
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Westminster; 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. |
Smoke and fire warnings for Westminster come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Westminster’s neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Westminster | Low | $0.020 | 1.8% | None listed |
| Glen Cairn 16,119 · 2.2 km | Low | $0.020 | 1.8% | None listed |
| White Oaks 21,108 · 2.2 km | Low | $0.020 | 1.8% | None listed |
| Jackson 8,124 · 3.7 km | Low | $0.020 | 1.8% | None listed |
| Highland 19,963 · 3.9 km | Low | $0.020 | 1.8% | None listed |
| South London 14,684 · 4.2 km | Low | $0.020 | 1.8% | None listed |
| Hamilton Road 15,283 · 4.2 km | Low | $0.020 | 1.8% | None listed |
Fire is no heavier anywhere nearby than around Westminster (low), with Glen Cairn next at low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Westminster faces
What to do about the hazards Westminster 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 Westminster until then.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Westminster without grading them.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Westminster’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Wildfire counts one way. For Westminster, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Westminster
How is Westminster’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Westminster A, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
How big is the earthquake risk in Westminster?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Westminster $0.020 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is Westminster at risk of wildfire?
Very little by the national record: Westminster’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Is radon a problem in Westminster?
Around Westminster, 110 survey homes were tested and 1.8% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Does Westminster flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Westminster’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).