Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0Moonbeam faces fewer hazards than 92% of Canadian towns
The burned-area map is nearly blank around Moonbeam, 0% within 25 km since 1986, 0.001% a year. For earthquakes Moonbeam is middling, $0.019 a year per $1,000 against $0.030 for the typical town. Fewer homes than usual carry radon here, 1% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Moonbeam grades A for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Moonbeam’s hazards
For Moonbeam, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Moonbeam faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Moonbeam: A
For Moonbeam, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
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.
Little of the land around Moonbeam has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Moonbeam’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
At 0.001% of the land a year, Moonbeam’s burn rate is in the low band; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Moonbeam’s homes have had no fire within 5 km since 1986; the closest was 23 km away.
Forest thickens with distance from Moonbeam: 64% of the land within 5 km, 87% 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 872
Moonbeam ranks 83rd of the 872 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.
The low band takes in 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, Moonbeam among them, though its rate is above zero; 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 Moonbeam
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Moonbeam: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists no study whose area touches Moonbeam, which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped.
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 Moonbeam.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood mapping is shown for Moonbeam to be opened and checked, never turned into a grade.
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 Moonbeam: $0.019 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
With $0.019 of shaking damage a year per $1,000, Moonbeam is about even with the typical $0.030 (0.6 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.019, Moonbeam 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.
Most of Canada’s 2,611 towns (66%) face more earthquake damage than Moonbeam.
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 Moonbeam 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 Moonbeam: 1% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Area-wide: radon tests, counted over the Porcupine Health Unit
Where the typical Canadian town has 6.6% of homes over the guideline, Moonbeam’s area has fewer, 1%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The median in Ontario is 4% over 200 Bq/m³; around Moonbeam it is 1%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Under 5% puts Moonbeam 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.
Whatever Moonbeam’s area share, the reading that matters is your own home’s, over a winter.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Moonbeam
Alerts for Moonbeam 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. |
Fire danger and active fires near Moonbeam are mapped daily by the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System; evacuation orders come from the municipality or province.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Moonbeam
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Moonbeam | Low | $0.019 | 1% | None listed |
| Kapuskasing 8,825 · 18 km | Low | $0.015 | 1% | None listed |
The fire record around Kapuskasing is a touch heavier than Moonbeam’s, but the band is the same: low (here low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Moonbeam faces
Practical steps for Moonbeam’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
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Moonbeam without grading them.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Moonbeam, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- Radon is a survey. Radon figures pool the survey’s home tests by area: postal areas once their boundaries arrive, the 2007 health region around Moonbeam until then.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Moonbeam’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
Questions about flooding and hazards in Moonbeam
Does Moonbeam flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Moonbeam, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
Is radon a problem in Moonbeam?
The area’s survey found 1% of 96 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Moonbeam.
Is Moonbeam at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Moonbeam’s low band (0% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2023) is short of the level that counts.
How is Moonbeam’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Moonbeam grades A for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Moonbeam?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Moonbeam $0.019 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
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).