Photo: Enoch Leung from Canada · CC BY-SA 2.0Hazard risk in Quantztown is lower than in 88% of Canadian towns
Around Quantztown, wildfire is practically absent from the record: 0% within 25 km since 1986, 0.001% a year. Shaking is about as much of a worry in Quantztown 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). Quantztown grades A for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Quantztown’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Quantztown: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Quantztown faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Quantztown grades A for hazard risk
Seismic risk and radon set Quantztown’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of 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 Quantztown has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Quantztown’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Quantztown burns at 0.001% a year, low against 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Since 1986 the nearest fire to Quantztown’s homes came within 10 km, never inside 5 km.
Forest fuel rises from 0.9% within 5 km of Quantztown to 7.5% within 25 km: the fuel lies away from 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
Quantztown 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.
Beside 2,610 Canadian towns, Quantztown 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.
Quantztown is on the flood map inventory: 2 studies, latest by Toronto Regional Conservation Authority
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Quantztown: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
2 studies on the inventory touch Quantztown, 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
Flood maps are common in Ontario: 69% of towns have one, against 58% nationally, and Quantztown is among them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
The 2 studies touching Quantztown are spread over time, from the 2010s to the 2020s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Quantztown.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Quantztown 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 Quantztown $0.034 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
With $0.034 of shaking damage a year per $1,000, Quantztown is about even with the typical $0.030 (1.1 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in Ontario peaks in Alexandria ($0.21); Quantztown, at $0.034, is below the median of $0.043.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Quantztown’s earthquake risk lands near the centre of Canada’s range; 46% of the 2,611 towns are higher.
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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Quantztown’s figure, nor landslides or tsunami: it is buildings and shaking.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean). · Earthquake risk: one figure for all of the city of Markham
Radon runs low around Quantztown: 0% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Quantztown’s survey area reads 0% over the guideline, under the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. For radon tests, the only official count covers all of the York Regional Health Unit, Quantztown included.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Against the typical town in Ontario (4%), the area around Quantztown has fewer high tests: 0%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Under 5% puts Quantztown with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 63% have more high tests.
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 share describes the area, not a house: in Quantztown as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Quantztown
Alerts for Quantztown 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. |
Evacuation orders for Quantztown come from the municipality or the province, while CWFIS maps fire danger every day.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Quantztown’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quantztown | Low | $0.034 | 0% | Yes |
| Berczy Village 22,149 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.034 | 0% | Yes |
| Wismer Commons 20,591 · 2.0 km | Low | $0.034 | 0% | Yes |
| Unionville 17,632 · 2.3 km | Low | $0.034 | 0% | Yes |
| Mount Joy 8,345 · 2.4 km | Low | $0.034 | 0% | Yes |
| Markham Village 10,319 · 2.7 km | Low | $0.034 | 0% | Yes |
| Cachet 6,361 · 3.1 km | Low | $0.034 | 0% | Yes |
Berczy Village (low) has the heaviest fire record of Quantztown’s neighbours, and Quantztown (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Quantztown faces
Practical steps for Quantztown’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; Quantztown’s 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 Quantztown.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Quantztown takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Quantztown’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Quantztown
How big is the earthquake risk in Quantztown?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Quantztown $0.034 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is radon a problem in Quantztown?
The area’s survey found 0% of 95 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Quantztown.
Does Quantztown flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Quantztown; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
Is Quantztown at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Quantztown’s low band (0% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2001) is short of the level that counts.
How is Quantztown’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Quantztown’s Hazard risk grade is A, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
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).