Photo: Transportfan70 · CC0Hazard risk in Cathedraltown is lower than in 88% of Canadian towns
For Cathedraltown, wildfire history is close to nil: 0% of nearby land since 1986, 0.001% a year. Shaking is about as much of a worry in Cathedraltown as in most places, at $0.034 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Fewer homes than usual carry radon here, 0% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Cathedraltown grades A for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Cathedraltown’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Cathedraltown: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Cathedraltown faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Cathedraltown grades A for hazard risk
For Cathedraltown, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
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 Cathedraltown has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Cathedraltown’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The yearly burn rate around Cathedraltown is 0.001%, low beside 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Nothing inside 5 km of Cathedraltown’s homes has burned since 1986, and the nearest scar is 18 km off.
Homes in Cathedraltown sit on open or built-up ground (1.3% forest fuel within 5 km); the wider 25 km holds 6.7%.
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
The land around Cathedraltown burns at 0.001% a year, the 83rd highest rate of 871 towns in Ontario; Sioux Lookout tops it 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.
Low, like 92% of the country’s 2,610 towns: the land around Cathedraltown burns, but slower than in the 7.5% above it.
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.
Toronto Regional Conservation Authority has mapped flooding for Cathedraltown (1 study)
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Cathedraltown: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
One study on the inventory touches Cathedraltown, Toronto Regional Conservation Authority’s from 2021, and its area can be large, so it says a map exists, not that the town floods.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Toronto Floodline Consolidation | Toronto Regional Conservation Authority | 2021 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Cathedraltown is one of the 69% of towns in Ontario with a flood study on file; across Canada it is 58%.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Cathedraltown’s homes stand in a flood zone.
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 Cathedraltown: $0.034 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.034 per $1,000, Cathedraltown’s earthquake risk is about the typical Canadian town’s ($0.030; 1.1 times).
Nobody publishes earthquake risk for Cathedraltown alone, so this card uses the figure for the city of Markham.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Ontario expects $0.043 a year in shaking damage; Cathedraltown 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.
Cathedraltown 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 loss is to Cathedraltown’s 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).
Radon runs low around Cathedraltown: 0% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Radon runs below the typical Canadian town (6.6%) in Cathedraltown’s area, at 0%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Cathedraltown’s area, at 0%, is below the median in Ontario (4%).
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Few tests over the guideline: Cathedraltown 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 Cathedraltown only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Not measured by town: radon tests (the York Regional Health Unit)
Weather and fire alerts for Cathedraltown
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Cathedraltown; 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 Cathedraltown, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Cathedraltown’s neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cathedraltown | Low | $0.034 | 0% | Yes |
| Buttonville 15,001 · 3.7 km | Low | $0.034 | 0% | Yes |
| Cachet 6,361 · 3.9 km | Low | $0.034 | 0% | Yes |
| Richmond Hill 222,031 · 5.1 km | Low | $0.028 | 0% | Yes |
| Berczy Village 22,149 · 5.4 km | Low | $0.034 | 0% | Yes |
| Brown's Corners 7,228 · 5.5 km | Low | $0.034 | 0% | Yes |
| Unionville 17,632 · 5.8 km | Low | $0.034 | 0% | Yes |
Buttonville (low) has the heaviest fire record of Cathedraltown’s neighbours, and Cathedraltown (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Cathedraltown faces
Practical steps for Cathedraltown’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
- 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 Cathedraltown.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Cathedraltown takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Cathedraltown’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Cathedraltown’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Cathedraltown
Is radon a problem in Cathedraltown?
0% of the 95 homes Health Canada tested around Cathedraltown topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
Does Cathedraltown flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Cathedraltown; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
Is Cathedraltown at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Cathedraltown’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.
How big is the earthquake risk in Cathedraltown?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Cathedraltown’s buildings lose $0.034 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
How is Cathedraltown’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Cathedraltown grades A for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the 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).