Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0Few places are as safe from hazards as Magnetawan: it beats 87% of Canadian towns
Fire has left almost no mark near Magnetawan: 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. Shaking is about as much of a worry in Magnetawan as in most places, at $0.025 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Radon is lower than usual: 1.9% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Magnetawan grades A for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Magnetawan’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Magnetawan: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Magnetawan faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Magnetawan: A
Two inputs always count for Magnetawan, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
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 Magnetawan: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Magnetawan’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
The yearly burn rate around Magnetawan is 0.000%, low beside 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
There is forest near Magnetawan’s homes (22% within 5 km) and more of it further out (28% 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 872
Of the 872 towns in Ontario, 639 have a burn rate that rounds to zero, Magnetawan among them; Sioux Lookout leads at 0.16% a year.
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.
Magnetawan shares the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, its burn rate rounding to nothing; 7.5% burn faster.
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 Magnetawan
Flood studies whose area touches Magnetawan, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
There is no study for Magnetawan on the national flood inventory, which is far from complete.
Towns with a flood study on file
Missing from a well-mapped province: Magnetawan 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.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Magnetawan’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.”
Ordinary seismic risk in Magnetawan: $0.025 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.
Nothing unusual about Magnetawan’s ground: $0.025 against a typical $0.030, 0.8 times.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Magnetawan’s $0.025 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.
Middle of the pack: 53% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have more earthquake risk than Magnetawan.
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 Magnetawan’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 Magnetawan: 1.9% 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 North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit: radon tests
Magnetawan’s survey area reads 1.9% over the guideline, under the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The median in Ontario is 4% over 200 Bq/m³; around Magnetawan it is 1.9%.
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 Magnetawan; 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.
Basements, soil and how a house is sealed decide its radon, so in Magnetawan only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Magnetawan
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Magnetawan; 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 Magnetawan come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Magnetawan
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Magnetawan | Low | $0.025 | 1.9% | None listed |
| Burk's Falls 1,031 · 15 km | Low | $0.023 | 1.9% | None listed |
| Strong 1,624 · 19 km | Low | $0.025 | 1.9% | None listed |
| Sundridge 1,056 · 19 km | Low | $0.015 | 1.9% | None listed |
Burk's Falls (low) has the heaviest fire record of Magnetawan’s neighbours, and Magnetawan (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Magnetawan faces
What to do about the hazards Magnetawan 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
- 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 Magnetawan.
- 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 Magnetawan’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Magnetawan’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Magnetawan is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Magnetawan
Does Magnetawan flood?
Nothing is listed for Magnetawan on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
Is radon a problem in Magnetawan?
In Health Canada’s survey, 1.9% of 103 homes tested in Magnetawan’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
How big is the earthquake risk in Magnetawan?
Expected earthquake damage in Magnetawan comes to $0.025 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
How is Magnetawan’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Magnetawan’s Hazard risk grade is A, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is Magnetawan at risk of wildfire?
The burned-area record shows next to nothing around Magnetawan (0% within 25 km since 1986), so its band is low.
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).