Photo: ChadPerez49 · CC BY-SA 3.0Few places are as safe from hazards as Buttonville: it beats 88% of Canadian towns
Since 1986 almost nothing has burned near Buttonville: 0% of the land within 25 km, or 0.001% a year. Seismic risk in Buttonville sits near the middle: $0.034 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. In Health Canada’s survey, just 0% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Hazard risk gives Buttonville a grade of A; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Buttonville’s hazards
For Buttonville, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Buttonville faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Buttonville grades A for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Buttonville 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. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Little of the land around Buttonville has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Buttonville’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Low: the land around Buttonville burns at 0.001% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Fire has stayed at least 15 km from Buttonville’s homes since 1986.
6.2% of the land within 25 km of Buttonville is forest fuel, yet only 0.6% within 5 km of its homes.
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
In the top quarter in Ontario: Buttonville ranks 83rd of 871 at 0.001% a year, with Sioux Lookout first 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.
Some fire is mapped around Buttonville, but not enough to leave the low band, where 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are; 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.
Buttonville is on the flood map inventory: 2 studies, latest by Toronto Regional Conservation Authority
Flood studies whose area touches Buttonville, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
2 studies on the inventory touch Buttonville, 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
Mapping in Ontario reaches 69% of towns, Buttonville included, beside 58% across Canada.
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 Buttonville between the 2010s and the 2020s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Buttonville.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Buttonville floods.
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.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Buttonville $0.034 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.
Nothing unusual about Buttonville’s ground: $0.034 against a typical $0.030, 1.1 times.
For earthquake risk, the only official count covers all of the city of Markham, Buttonville included.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Buttonville’s $0.034 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.
Buttonville sits mid-range among Canada’s 2,611 towns: 46% 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).
What a quake does after the shaking, fire, landslides, tsunami, falls outside NRCan’s figure for Buttonville.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
0% of homes tested around Buttonville are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Buttonville’s area, at 0%, is below the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town, though any one home can still be high.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Fewer homes top the guideline around Buttonville (0%) than in the typical town in Ontario (4%).
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 Buttonville; 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.
Health Canada advises testing every home, Buttonville’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests: one figure for all of the York Regional Health Unit
Where to get warnings in Buttonville
Alerts for Buttonville 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 Buttonville 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 Buttonville’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buttonville | Low | $0.034 | 0% | Yes |
| Brown's Corners 7,228 · 1.8 km | Low | $0.034 | 0% | Yes |
| Cachet 6,361 · 2.6 km | Low | $0.034 | 0% | Yes |
| Unionville 17,632 · 3.0 km | Low | $0.034 | 0% | Yes |
| Cathedraltown 11,029 · 3.7 km | Low | $0.034 | 0% | Yes |
| Berczy Village 22,149 · 4.3 km | Low | $0.034 | 0% | Yes |
| Quantztown 13,146 · 5.0 km | Low | $0.034 | 0% | Yes |
Fire is no heavier anywhere nearby than around Buttonville (low), with Brown's Corners next at low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Buttonville faces
What to do about the hazards Buttonville 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
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Buttonville’s included.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Buttonville 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 Buttonville.
- Wildfire counts one way. Burned land within 25 km of where people live, averaged over 1986–2025 and checked for fuel near homes, is the measure; it looks back, not ahead, and only ever counts against Buttonville.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Buttonville
Is Buttonville at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Buttonville since 1986 (last in 2001); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Buttonville?
Expected earthquake damage in Buttonville comes to $0.034 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Does Buttonville flood?
There is flood mapping for Buttonville on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
How is Buttonville’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Buttonville grades A for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is radon a problem in Buttonville?
Around Buttonville, 95 survey homes were tested and 0% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
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).