Photo: Jean7031 · CC BY-SA 3.0Few places are as safe from hazards as Cachet: it beats 88% of Canadian towns
The national fire record shows next to nothing around Cachet, 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.001% a year). For earthquakes Cachet is middling, $0.034 a year per $1,000 against $0.030 for the typical town. Fewer homes than usual carry radon here, 0% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Cachet a grade of A; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Cachet’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Cachet: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Cachet faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Cachet grades A for hazard risk
Earthquake risk and radon make Cachet’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
Its place: #165 of 866 in Ontario and #484 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Wildfire is rare near Cachet: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Cachet’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
In a typical year 0.001% of the land near Cachet burns; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%, and both are low.
The closest burn since 1986 lies 14 km from Cachet’s homes, none within 5 km.
7.3% of the land within 25 km of Cachet is forest fuel, yet only 0.7% 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
At 0.001% a year, Cachet is near the top in Ontario: 83rd of 871, behind Sioux Lookout (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.
Beside 2,610 Canadian towns, Cachet reads low, with 92% of them; only 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.
2 flood studies cover Cachet, the newest from Toronto Regional Conservation Authority
Flood studies whose area touches Cachet, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
The newest of 2 studies covering Cachet is Toronto Regional Conservation Authority’s, from 2021; open its map to see the zones.
| 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
69% of towns in Ontario have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Cachet has one too.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood mapping around Cachet has come in steps: 2 studies from the 2010s to the 2020s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Cachet.
Flood mapping is shown for Cachet to be opened and checked, never turned into a grade.
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 Cachet: $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 Cachet, $0.034 per $1,000, are in line with the typical $0.030 (1.1 times).
Cachet doesn’t get its own earthquake risk figures; the ones here come from the city of Markham.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Cachet’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.
Cachet 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).
The model counts damage to Cachet’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).
0% of homes tested around Cachet are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Radon tests for the York Regional Health Unit
Fewer homes than usual test high around Cachet: 0% against 6.6% for the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Against the typical town in Ontario (4%), the area around Cachet has fewer high tests: 0%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Few tests over the guideline: Cachet shares the bottom band with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, below the other 63%.
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 Cachet only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Cachet
Alerts for Cachet 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 Cachet 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 Cachet’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cachet | Low | $0.034 | 0% | Yes |
| Berczy Village 22,149 · 1.8 km | Low | $0.034 | 0% | Yes |
| Unionville 17,632 · 2.2 km | Low | $0.034 | 0% | Yes |
| Buttonville 15,001 · 2.6 km | Low | $0.034 | 0% | Yes |
| Quantztown 13,146 · 3.1 km | Low | $0.034 | 0% | Yes |
| Brown's Corners 7,228 · 3.4 km | Low | $0.034 | 0% | Yes |
| Cathedraltown 11,029 · 3.9 km | Low | $0.034 | 0% | Yes |
The neighbour with the most fire is Berczy Village (low), still no more than Cachet (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Cachet faces
Practical steps for Cachet’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. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Cachet’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Cachet’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Cachet without grading them.
- 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 Cachet until then.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Cachet
How big is the earthquake risk in Cachet?
Expected earthquake damage in Cachet comes to $0.034 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
How is Cachet’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Cachet’s Hazard risk grade is A, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Does Cachet flood?
A flood study covers Cachet on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
Is radon a problem in Cachet?
0% of the 95 homes Health Canada tested around Cachet topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
Is Cachet at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Cachet’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2001), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
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).