Photo: Canmenwalker · CC BY 4.0Brown's Corners faces fewer hazards than 88% of Canadian towns
Wildfire barely registers for Brown's Corners, at 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.001% a year). For earthquakes Brown's Corners is middling, $0.034 a year per $1,000 against $0.030 for the typical town. Radon is lower than usual: 0% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Brown's Corners grades A for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Brown's Corners’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Brown's Corners: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Brown's Corners faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Brown's Corners: A
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Brown's Corners with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #165 of 866 in Ontario and #484 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.
Little of the land around Brown's Corners has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Brown's Corners’ residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Low by Canadian standards: 0.001% of the land a year around Brown's Corners, 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Nothing inside 5 km of Brown's Corners’ homes has burned since 1986, and the nearest scar is 15 km off.
Homes in Brown's Corners sit on open or built-up ground (0.3% forest fuel within 5 km); the wider 25 km holds 5.3%.
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
Brown's Corners ranks 83rd of the 871 towns in Ontario for burn rate, at 0.001% a year; Sioux Lookout leads with 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.
The low band takes in 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, Brown's Corners among them, though its rate is above zero; 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.
Flooding around Brown's Corners is mapped in 2 studies, the newest by Toronto Regional Conservation Authority
Flood studies whose area touches Brown's Corners, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
2 studies on the inventory touch Brown's Corners, the newest Toronto Regional Conservation Authority’s from 2021, and their areas can be large, so they say maps exist, not that the town floods.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Toronto Floodline Consolidation | Toronto Regional Conservation Authority | 2021 | final |
| Unionville Special Policy Area | Toronto and Region Conservation Authority | 2019 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Its flood study puts Brown's Corners with 69% of towns in Ontario; Canada’s share is 58%.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
No single decade dominates: 2 studies for Brown's Corners between the 2010s and the 2020s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Brown's Corners.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Brown's Corners.
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.
Ordinary seismic risk in Brown's Corners: $0.034 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.
Earthquake losses in Brown's Corners, $0.034 per $1,000, are in line with the typical $0.030 (1.1 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Ontario expects $0.043 a year in shaking damage; Brown's Corners expects less, $0.034, 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.
Around half of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Brown's Corners (46%).
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 loss is to Brown's Corners’ buildings alone, from ground shaking; infrastructure and secondary hazards are left out.
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 Markham, not by town
0% of homes tested around Brown's Corners are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Source area for radon tests: the York Regional Health Unit
A lower share than most: 0% of tested homes around Brown's Corners, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The median in Ontario is 4% over 200 Bq/m³; around Brown's Corners it is 0%.
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 Brown's Corners; 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.
One home in Brown's Corners can be high while next door is low; a three-month test settles it.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Brown's Corners
Alerts for Brown's Corners come from Environment and Climate Change Canada and, for emergencies, Alert Ready.
| 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. |
Fire danger and active fires near Brown's Corners are mapped daily by the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System; evacuation orders come from the municipality or province.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Brown's Corners’ neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brown's Corners | Low | $0.034 | 0% | Yes |
| Buttonville 15,001 · 1.8 km | Low | $0.034 | 0% | Yes |
| Unionville 17,632 · 2.4 km | Low | $0.034 | 0% | Yes |
| Cachet 6,361 · 3.4 km | Low | $0.034 | 0% | Yes |
| Underwood 5,972 · 3.9 km | Low | $0.034 | 0% | None listed |
| Hagerman's Corners 43,555 · 4.2 km | Low | $0.034 | 0% | Yes |
| Milliken 12,138 · 4.2 km | Low | $0.034 | 0% | Yes |
Among its neighbours Brown's Corners has the most fire on record (low); Buttonville follows (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Brown's Corners faces
What to do about the hazards Brown's Corners 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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Brown's Corners’ homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Brown's Corners takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Brown's Corners’ figure is its subdivision’s.
- 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 Brown's Corners.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Brown's Corners
Does Brown's Corners flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Brown's Corners; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Brown's Corners?
About $0.034 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Brown's Corners.
How is Brown's Corners’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Brown's Corners’ Hazard risk grade is A, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is Brown's Corners at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0% of the land within 25 km of Brown's Corners has burned since 1986, the last in 2001, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
Is radon a problem in Brown's Corners?
In Health Canada’s survey, 0% of 95 homes tested in Brown's Corners’ 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).