Photo: TheGiantVermin · CC BY-SA 3.0New Hamburg faces fewer hazards than 86% of Canadian towns
Fire has left almost no mark near New Hamburg: 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. Shaking is about as much of a worry in New Hamburg as in most places, at $0.018 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Fewer homes than usual carry radon here, 4% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives New Hamburg a grade of A, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about New Hamburg’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for New Hamburg: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What New Hamburg faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
New Hamburg grades A for hazard risk
Earthquake risk and radon make New Hamburg’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
Its place: #192 of 866 in Ontario and #527 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Wildfire is rare near New Hamburg: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where New Hamburg’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
In a typical year 0.000% of the land near New Hamburg burns; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%, and both are low.
Little near New Hamburg’s homes can carry a forest fire; only 1.8% of the land within 5 km is forest fuel, and 1.7% 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 New Hamburg, 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.
Only 7.5% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are above the low band, which holds 92%; New Hamburg, at a rounded zero, is far from them.
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.
Grand River Conservation Authority has mapped flooding for New Hamburg (1 study)
Flood studies whose area touches New Hamburg, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
A 2018 study by Grand River Conservation Authority covers New Hamburg, and its map, not the inventory, shows the zones.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grand River Regulatory Floodplain | Grand River Conservation Authority | 2018 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are common in Ontario: 69% of towns have one, against 58% nationally, and New Hamburg is among them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of New Hamburg’s homes stand in a flood zone.
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 New Hamburg $0.018 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 $0.018 per $1,000, New Hamburg’s earthquake risk is about the typical Canadian town’s ($0.030; 0.6 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
New Hamburg’s $0.018 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.
New Hamburg is in the lower part of Canada’s range for earthquake risk; 68% 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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in New Hamburg’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).
4% of homes tested around New Hamburg are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
New Hamburg’s area, at 4%, is below the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town, though any one home can still be high.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
New Hamburg’s area, at 4%, is close to the median 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 New Hamburg 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.
The survey sampled homes around New Hamburg; 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 Waterloo Health Unit
Weather and fire alerts for New Hamburg
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for New Hamburg; 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. |
Smoke and fire warnings for New Hamburg come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How New Hamburg’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Hamburg | Low | $0.018 | 4% | Yes |
| Highland West 12,476 · 10 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| Forest Heights 14,369 · 10 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| Laurentian West 16,857 · 12 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| Victoria Hills 10,760 · 12 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| Westmount 5,048 · 12 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| Forest Hill 5,760 · 12 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
Highland West (low) has the heaviest fire record of New Hamburg’s neighbours, and New Hamburg (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what New Hamburg faces
Practical steps for New Hamburg’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
- 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 New Hamburg sits in.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around New Hamburg’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- 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 New Hamburg floods.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; New Hamburg’s figure is its subdivision’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in New Hamburg
Is New Hamburg at risk of wildfire?
Very little by the national record: New Hamburg’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Is radon a problem in New Hamburg?
4% of the 101 homes Health Canada tested around New Hamburg topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How is New Hamburg’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
New Hamburg grades A for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Does New Hamburg flood?
New Hamburg’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
How big is the earthquake risk in New Hamburg?
Expected earthquake damage in New Hamburg comes to $0.018 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).