Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0On hazards, Montague comes out behind 93% of Canadian towns
Fire has left almost no mark near Montague: 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. Shaking is a bigger worry than in most places, at $0.10 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). More homes than usual carry radon here, 19% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Montague a grade of D, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Montague’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Montague: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Montague faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Montague: D
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Montague with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #858 of 866 in Ontario and #2,500 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 Montague: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Montague’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Forty years of fire maps put Montague at 0.000% a year, low next to the typical Canadian town’s 0.000%.
Near or far, forest fuel covers a similar share around Montague: 14% within 5 km and 15% 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 Montague, 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.
The low band holds 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, and Montague sits at its very bottom; only 7.5% are above it.
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.
9 flood studies cover Montague, the newest from Rideau Valley Conservation Authority
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Montague: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
For Montague the inventory points to 9 studies, most recently Rideau Valley Conservation Authority’s in 2018.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nichols Creek | Rideau Valley Conservation Authority | 2018 | final |
| Kings Creek | Rideau Valley Conservation Authority | 2017 | final |
| Rideau River, Kars to Burrits Rapids | Rideau Valley Conservation Authority | 2017 | final |
| Otter and Hutton Creeks | Rideau Valley Conservation Authority | 2016 | final |
| Rideau River, Poonamalie Dam to Smith Falls | Rideau Valley Conservation Authority | 2010 | final |
| Jock River | Rideau Valley Conservation Authority | 2005 | final |
| Rideau River Tributaries, Smiths Falls to Kars | Rideau Valley Conservation Authority | 1983 | final |
| Rideau River Floodline Mapping, Smiths Falls to Poonamalie | Rideau Valley Conservation Authority | 1979 | final |
1 more studies on the inventory touch Montague.
Towns with a flood study on file
69% of towns in Ontario have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Montague has one too.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
The 2010s brought the most flood studies for Montague (5 of 9), the first dating from the 1970s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Montague.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Montague’s homes are at risk.
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 Montague $0.10 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
The typical town loses $0.030 a year to shaking; Montague loses $0.10, 3.4 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Montague’s $0.10 tops the median in Ontario, $0.043, though Alexandria reaches $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.
25% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Montague, which places it in the upper third.
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 Montague’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).
Test for radon in Montague: 19% of area homes were over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Montague’s survey area reads 19% over the guideline, well past the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Montague’s area, at 19%, is above the median in Ontario (4%), and 1.9% of its tests passed 600 Bq/m³.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
One test in ten or more tops the guideline around Montague, as in 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 4.6% go 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 Montague; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Area behind the radon tests figures: the Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit
Weather and fire alerts for Montague
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Montague; 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. |
In fire season, check CWFIS for danger and active fires around Montague, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Montague’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Montague | Low | $0.10 | 19% | Yes |
| Smiths Falls 11,093 · 6.9 km | Low | $0.092 | 19% | Yes |
| Merrickville 3,411 · 12 km | Low | $0.10 | 19% | Yes |
| Drummond/North Elmsley 8,817 · 19 km | Low | $0.088 | 19% | Yes |
Drummond/North Elmsley burns a little more than Montague, in the same low band (low here).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Montague faces
What to do about the hazards Montague 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.
- Drop, cover and hold on.
- Strap the water heater down.
- Keep 72 hours of supplies.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
- Is earthquake cover included?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Montague takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Montague’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- 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 Montague’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 Montague.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Montague
Is Montague at risk of wildfire?
No meaningful wildfire history near Montague: 0% of nearby land since 1986, band low.
How big is the earthquake risk in Montague?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Montague $0.10 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Does Montague flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Montague; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
Is radon a problem in Montague?
Around Montague, 108 survey homes were tested and 19% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How is Montague’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Montague’s Hazard risk grade is D, 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).