Photo: 40rev · CC BY-SA 3.0Moosonee faces fewer hazards than almost every Canadian town
The burned-area map is nearly blank around Moosonee, 0% within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. Seismic risk runs low: $0.010 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Fewer homes than usual carry radon here, 1% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Moosonee a grade of A+; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Moosonee’s hazards
For Moosonee, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Moosonee faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Moosonee grades A+ for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Moosonee with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Little of the land around Moosonee has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Moosonee’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Low: the land around Moosonee burns at 0.000% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Since 1986 the nearest fire to Moosonee’s homes came within 6.4 km, never inside 5 km.
Forest thickens with distance from Moosonee: 75% of the land within 5 km, 82% 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
Sioux Lookout has the highest burn rate in Ontario, 0.16% a year; around Moosonee, as around 639 of the 872 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.
Measured against 2,610 towns, Moosonee is in the largest group, low (92%), and at its floor, while 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.
No flood study is listed for Moosonee
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Moosonee: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists no study whose area touches Moosonee, which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped.
Towns with a flood study on file
Moosonee has no flood study on file, though 69% of towns in Ontario do (Canada: 58%).
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 Moosonee 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.”
Earthquakes cost buildings in Moosonee just $0.010 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
0.3 times the typical $0.030: Moosonee’s $0.010 is low for Canada.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.010, Moosonee 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.
Toward the quiet end of Canada’s range: 86% of its 2,611 towns sit above Moosonee.
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).
What a quake does after the shaking, fire, landslides, tsunami, falls outside NRCan’s figure for Moosonee.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Radon runs low around Moosonee: 1% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Shared with the rest of the Porcupine Health Unit: radon tests
Radon runs below the typical Canadian town (6.6%) in Moosonee’s area, at 1%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Against the typical town in Ontario (4%), the area around Moosonee has fewer high tests: 1%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Moosonee is in the lowest band, with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns: under 5% of tests over the guideline, while 63% have more.
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, Moosonee’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Moosonee
Alerts for Moosonee 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 Moosonee 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 Moosonee
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Moosonee | Low | $0.010 | 1% | None listed |
| Factory Island 1 1,511 · 3.2 km | Low | $0.009 | 1% | None listed |
Fire is no heavier anywhere nearby than around Moosonee (low), with Factory Island 1 next at low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Moosonee faces
What to do about the hazards Moosonee 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.
- 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. Burned land within 25 km of where people live, averaged over 1986–2025 and checked for fuel near homes, is the measure; it looks back, not ahead, and only ever counts against Moosonee.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Moosonee is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Moosonee’s included.
- 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 Moosonee.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Moosonee
Does Moosonee flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Moosonee’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
How is Moosonee’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Moosonee’s Hazard risk grade is A+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is radon a problem in Moosonee?
Around Moosonee, 96 survey homes were tested and 1% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Is Moosonee at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Moosonee since 1986 (last in 2012); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Moosonee?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Moosonee’s buildings lose $0.010 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
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).