Photo: Andrew Currie from Toronto, Canada · CC BY-SA 2.0Milliken faces fewer hazards than 88% of Canadian towns
Fire has left almost no mark near Milliken: 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986, 0.001% a year. Shaking is about as much of a worry in Milliken as in most places, at $0.034 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). In Health Canada’s survey, just 0% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Hazard risk gives Milliken a grade of A; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Milliken’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Milliken: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Milliken faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Milliken: A
The grade weighs Milliken’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
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.
Few fires near Milliken: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Past fire around Milliken’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
In a typical year 0.001% of the land near Milliken burns; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%, and both are low.
Nothing inside 5 km of Milliken’s homes has burned since 1986, and the nearest scar is 11 km off.
Only 4.8% of the land within 25 km of Milliken is forest fuel, and 0.6% close in.
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
Sioux Lookout burns fastest in Ontario at 0.16% a year; Milliken, at 0.001%, ranks 83rd of 871.
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.
7.5% of Canada’s 2,610 towns burn fast enough to rank moderate or above; Milliken stays low, with 92%.
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 Milliken (1 study)
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Milliken: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
For Milliken the inventory points to Toronto Regional Conservation Authority’s 2021 study, whose map is the one to check.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Toronto Floodline Consolidation | Toronto Regional Conservation Authority | 2021 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Its flood study puts Milliken 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.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Milliken 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 Milliken $0.034 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Nothing unusual about Milliken’s ground: $0.034 against a typical $0.030, 1.1 times.
Milliken shares its earthquake risk numbers with the rest of 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; Milliken 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.
Milliken 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 Milliken’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 Milliken are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
At 0% over the guideline, the area around Milliken is under the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. Milliken doesn’t get its own radon tests figures; the ones here come from the York Regional Health Unit.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The median in Ontario is 4% over 200 Bq/m³; around Milliken 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 Milliken; 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.
The survey sampled homes around Milliken; 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 Milliken
Alerts for Milliken 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. |
Alert Ready carries evacuation orders for Milliken to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Milliken’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Milliken | Low | $0.034 | 0% | Yes |
| Underwood 5,972 · 0.6 km | Low | $0.034 | 0% | None listed |
| Steeles 22,943 · 1.8 km | Low | $0.043 | 2.7% | Yes |
| Hagerman's Corners 43,555 · 2.3 km | Low | $0.034 | 0% | Yes |
| Milliken 24,431 · 2.4 km | Low | $0.043 | 2.7% | Yes |
| East L'Amoreaux 21,533 · 3.1 km | Low | $0.043 | 2.7% | Yes |
| Agincourt North 27,790 · 3.3 km | Low | $0.043 | 2.7% | Yes |
Underwood (low) has the heaviest fire record of Milliken’s neighbours, and Milliken (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Milliken faces
What to do about the hazards Milliken 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
- 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 Milliken until then.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Milliken’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Milliken without grading them.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Milliken’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Milliken
How is Milliken’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Milliken grades A for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Milliken?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Milliken’s buildings lose $0.034 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is radon a problem in Milliken?
Around Milliken, 95 survey homes were tested and 0% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Does Milliken flood?
A flood study covers Milliken on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
Is Milliken at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Milliken since 1986 (last in 2001); at low, it neither helps nor hurts 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).