Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0Few places are as safe from hazards as McKellar: it beats 87% of Canadian towns
Since 1986 almost nothing has burned near McKellar: 0% of the land within 25 km, or 0.000% a year. NRCan expects $0.025 of shaking damage a year per $1,000 of buildings in McKellar, near the typical $0.030. Fewer homes than usual carry radon here, 1.9% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. McKellar grades A for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about McKellar’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for McKellar: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What McKellar faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in McKellar: A
Seismic risk and radon set McKellar’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
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.
Little of the land around McKellar has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around McKellar’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
McKellar burns at 0.000% a year, low against 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Within 5 km of McKellar, 16% of the land is forest fuel; widen the ring to 25 km and it is 31%.
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 872
Near-zero burning puts McKellar with 639 of the 872 towns in Ontario, far below Sioux Lookout 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.
Like most of Canada’s 2,610 towns (92%), McKellar is in the low band, with a burn rate of zero to three decimals; 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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for McKellar
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for McKellar: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The inventory has nothing for McKellar, but a local or conservation-authority map may still exist.
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Ontario reaches 69% of towns, beside 58% across Canada, but not McKellar.
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 McKellar 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.”
Ordinary seismic risk in McKellar: $0.025 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
With $0.025 of shaking damage a year per $1,000, McKellar is about even with the typical $0.030 (0.8 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.025, McKellar is below the typical town in Ontario ($0.043); Alexandria is highest at $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.
Around half of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than McKellar (53%).
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 McKellar’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).
1.9% of homes tested around McKellar are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · The radon tests numbers here cover the North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit
Radon runs below the typical Canadian town (6.6%) in McKellar’s area, at 1.9%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The median in Ontario is 4% over 200 Bq/m³; around McKellar it is 1.9%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
63% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have a higher share of homes over 200 Bq/m³ than McKellar’s band, which holds 37%.
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.
A survey sample isn’t a map: any home in McKellar can be high, and a three-month test is the only way to know.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for McKellar
Alerts for McKellar 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 McKellar to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around McKellar
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| McKellar | Low | $0.025 | 1.9% | None listed |
| McDougall 3,002 · 13 km | Low | $0.020 | 1.9% | None listed |
| Parry Sound 7,584 · 16 km | Low | $0.016 | 1.9% | None listed |
| Seguin 5,761 · 16 km | Low | $0.020 | 1.9% | None listed |
The neighbour with the most fire is McDougall (low), still no more than McKellar (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what McKellar faces
Practical steps for McKellar’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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Earthquakes are modelled. Shaking damage is modelled from the ground, the buildings and the odds of each quake, and published for whole subdivisions such as McKellar’s.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. A study’s area can be a whole watershed or province, so being on the inventory says a map exists, not that a home in McKellar floods.
- Radon is a survey. The radon share comes from about 14,000 long-term home tests in 2009–2011, pooled for now by the 2007 health region McKellar sits in.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of McKellar’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
Questions about flooding and hazards in McKellar
Is McKellar at risk of wildfire?
Very little by the national record: McKellar’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in McKellar?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in McKellar $0.025 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Does McKellar flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for McKellar, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
How is McKellar’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
McKellar grades A for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is radon a problem in McKellar?
The area’s survey found 1.9% of 103 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in McKellar.
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).