Photo: Francine Pallister · CC BY-SA 3.0Malahide is on Canada’s flood inventory: 1 listed, led by Catfish Creek Conservation Authority
For Malahide, wildfire history is close to nil: 0% of nearby land since 1986, 0.000% a year. For earthquakes Malahide is middling, $0.022 a year per $1,000 against $0.030 for the typical town. Radon around Malahide is ordinary for Canada: 7.5% of tested homes over the guideline (6.6% typical). Malahide grades B+ for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Malahide’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Malahide: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Malahide faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Malahide grades B+ for hazard risk
Earthquake risk and radon make Malahide’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
Its place: #482 of 866 in Ontario and #933 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 Malahide: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Malahide’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Malahide burns at 0.000% a year, low against 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Around Malahide the forest is thin or far off: 0.5% of the land within 5 km and 0.6% within 25 km is forest fuel.
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
To three decimals the burn rate around Malahide is zero, as for 638 of the 871 towns in Ontario, while Sioux Lookout reaches 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.
Measured against 2,610 towns, Malahide is in the largest group, low (92%), and at its floor, while 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.
A flood study covers Malahide, from Catfish Creek Conservation Authority: 1 on the inventory
Flood studies whose area touches Malahide, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
A 2024 study by Catfish Creek Conservation Authority covers Malahide, and its map, not the inventory, shows the zones.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Catfish Creek floodplain and Port Bruce beach | Catfish Creek Conservation Authority | 2024 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
69% of towns in Ontario have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Malahide has one too.
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 Malahide’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.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
Expected shaking damage in Malahide: $0.022 a year per $1,000
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
With $0.022 of shaking damage a year per $1,000, Malahide 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; Malahide expects less, $0.022, 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.
Malahide sits mid-range among Canada’s 2,611 towns: 61% 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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Malahide’s figure, nor landslides or tsunami: it is buildings and shaking.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Some radon around Malahide: 7.5% of area homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Area-wide: radon tests, counted over the Elgin-St. Thomas Health Unit
Malahide’s area sits close to the typical Canadian town: 7.5% over the guideline, against 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
More homes top the guideline around Malahide (7.5%) than in the typical town in Ontario (4%); 1.1% went over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Between 5% and 10% of tests over the guideline: Malahide, and 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% are 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.
The survey sampled homes around Malahide; 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 Malahide
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Malahide; 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 Malahide, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Malahide’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Malahide | Low | $0.022 | 7.5% | Yes |
| Aylmer 8,371 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.025 | 7.5% | None listed |
| Bayham 7,935 · 13 km | Low | $0.022 | 7.5% | None listed |
| Central Elgin 15,230 · 15 km | Low | $0.020 | 7.5% | Yes |
| St. Thomas 49,388 · 17 km | Low | $0.023 | 7.5% | Yes |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Malahide (low); Aylmer comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Malahide faces
Practical steps for Malahide’s hazards, most pressing first.
- 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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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 Malahide’s.
- 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 Malahide.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Malahide is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Malahide’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Malahide
How big is the earthquake risk in Malahide?
About $0.022 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Malahide.
Is radon a problem in Malahide?
The area’s survey found 7.5% of 93 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Malahide.
How is Malahide’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Malahide grades B+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is Malahide at risk of wildfire?
Very little by the national record: Malahide’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Does Malahide flood?
There is flood mapping for Malahide on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
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).