Photo: JFVoll · CC BY-SA 4.0Britannia faces fewer hazards than 86% of Canadian towns
The national fire record shows next to nothing around Britannia, 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). Shaking is about as much of a worry in Britannia as in most places, at $0.040 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%. Britannia grades A for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Britannia’s hazards
For Britannia, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Britannia faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Britannia: A
For Britannia, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
Its place: #194 of 866 in Ontario and #529 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Few fires near Britannia: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Britannia’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
The land within 25 km of Britannia burns at 0.000% a year on average, the low band; the typical Canadian town: 0.000%.
Forest fuel is scarce around Britannia: 0.5% of the land within 5 km, 0.8% within 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
Sioux Lookout has the highest burn rate in Ontario, 0.16% a year; around Britannia, as around 638 of the 871 towns, it rounds to zero.
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.
Britannia shares the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, its burn rate rounding to nothing; 7.5% burn faster.
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.
Britannia is on the flood map inventory: 2 studies, latest by Credit Valley Conservation Authority
Flood studies whose area touches Britannia, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
2 studies on the inventory touch Britannia, the newest Credit Valley Conservation Authority’s from 2020, and their areas can be large, so they say maps exist, not that the town floods.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carolyn Creek Floodplain Mapping Study | Credit Valley Conservation Authority | 2020 | final · not public |
| Cooksville Creek | Credit Valley Conservation Authority | 2019 | final · not public |
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Ontario reaches 69% of towns, Britannia included, beside 58% across Canada.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood mapping around Britannia has come in steps: 2 studies from the 2010s to the 2020s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Britannia.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Britannia 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 Britannia $0.040 per $1,000 a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
At $0.040 per $1,000, Britannia’s earthquake risk is about the typical Canadian town’s ($0.030; 1.3 times).
Figures for earthquake risk are published for the city of Mississauga as a whole, not for Britannia alone.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Shaking damage around Britannia runs at $0.040 a year, near the $0.043 of the typical town in Ontario; Alexandria has $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.
Britannia’s earthquake risk lands near the centre of Canada’s range; 43% 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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in Britannia is counted; landslides, liquefaction, tsunami and fire after a quake aren’t.
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 Britannia: 0% of area homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Shared with the rest of the Peel Regional Health Unit: radon tests
At 0% over the guideline, the area around Britannia is under the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The median in Ontario is 4% over 200 Bq/m³; around Britannia it is 0%.
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 Britannia’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.
Health Canada advises testing every home, Britannia’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Britannia
Alerts for Britannia 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 Britannia 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 Britannia’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Britannia | Low | $0.040 | 0% | Yes |
| Hurontario 43,877 · 1.8 km | Low | $0.040 | 0% | Yes |
| Roseborough 54,539 · 2.1 km | Low | $0.040 | 0% | Yes |
| Uptown 12,244 · 2.4 km | Low | $0.040 | 0% | Yes |
| Barbertown 9,209 · 2.8 km | Low | $0.040 | 0% | Yes |
| Creditview 10,972 · 3.7 km | Low | $0.040 | 0% | Yes |
| Streetsville 13,535 · 3.9 km | Low | $0.040 | 0% | Yes |
Hurontario (low) has the heaviest fire record of Britannia’s neighbours, and Britannia (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Britannia faces
Practical steps for Britannia’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. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Britannia’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’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 Britannia 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 Britannia sits in.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Britannia, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Britannia
Is Britannia at risk of wildfire?
Very little by the national record: Britannia’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Does Britannia flood?
Britannia’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
Is radon a problem in Britannia?
The area’s survey found 0% of 90 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Britannia.
How is Britannia’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Britannia’s Hazard risk grade is A, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
How big is the earthquake risk in Britannia?
Expected earthquake damage in Britannia comes to $0.040 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
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).