Photo: Chicken4War · CC BY-SA 4.0Midland faces fewer hazards than almost every Canadian town
The national fire record shows next to nothing around Midland, 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). Shaking is less of a worry than in most places, at $0.010 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Radon is lower than usual: 0.9% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Midland grades A+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Midland’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Midland: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Midland faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Midland grades A+ for hazard risk
Seismic risk and radon set Midland’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
Its place: #2 of 866 in Ontario and #8 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.
Wildfire is rare near Midland: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Midland’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The yearly burn rate around Midland is 0.000%, low beside 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Forest fuel covers 10% of the land close to Midland and 22% across 25 km.
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
Little or nothing burns around Midland in a typical year; 638 of the 871 towns in Ontario share that, and Sioux Lookout leads 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.
92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are in the low band and 7.5% above it; Midland is among the many where the yearly burn rate rounds to zero.
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.
No flood study is listed for Midland
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Midland: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
No flood study on the national inventory covers Midland; ask the municipality, which is the authority for its flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are common in Ontario, 69% of towns against 58% nationally, but none in the inventory touches Midland.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Nothing here counts toward Risk; the studies are pointers to the maps their owners keep for Midland.
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.”
Little shaking expected in Midland: $0.010 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Shaking costs the typical town $0.030 a year; in Midland it is only $0.010, 0.3 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Midland’s $0.010 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.
Toward the quiet end of Canada’s range: 86% of its 2,611 towns sit above Midland.
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 Midland’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).
Little radon around Midland: 0.9% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Midland’s survey area reads 0.9% over the guideline, under the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Fewer homes top the guideline around Midland (0.9%) than in the typical town in Ontario (4%).
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Under 5% puts Midland 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.
A survey sample isn’t a map: any home in Midland 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). · Data for radon tests covers the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit
Weather and fire alerts for Midland
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Midland; 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. |
For fires near Midland, the national fire information system maps danger and active fires daily; local authorities give any evacuation order.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Midland’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Midland | Low | $0.010 | 0.9% | None listed |
| Penetanguishene 11,141 · 4.9 km | Low | $0.011 | 0.9% | None listed |
| Tay 11,968 · 8.9 km | Low | $0.011 | 0.9% | None listed |
| Tiny 14,195 · 9.8 km | Low | $0.014 | 0.9% | None listed |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Midland (low); Penetanguishene comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Midland faces
Practical steps for Midland’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
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Midland’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Midland is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. NRCan’s inventory says where flood mapping exists, not where water goes; the map’s owner is the authority for Midland.
- 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 Midland’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Midland
Is radon a problem in Midland?
The area’s survey found 0.9% of 109 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Midland.
Does Midland flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Midland, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
How big is the earthquake risk in Midland?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Midland’s buildings lose $0.010 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is Midland at risk of wildfire?
No meaningful wildfire history near Midland: 0% of nearby land since 1986, band low.
How is Midland’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Midland’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).