Photo: Mhsheikholeslami · CC BY-SA 4.0Hazard risk in Newmarket is lower than in 97% of Canadian towns
The burned-area map is nearly blank around Newmarket, 0% within 25 km since 1986, 0.001% a year. Seismic risk in Newmarket sits near the middle: $0.019 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Radon is lower than usual: 0% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Newmarket grades A+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Newmarket’s hazards
For Newmarket, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Newmarket faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Newmarket: A+
Two inputs always count for Newmarket, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
Its place: #10 of 866 in Ontario and #225 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
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 Newmarket has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Newmarket’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
With 0.001% burned a year, Newmarket is among the many low-band places (the typical Canadian town 0.000%).
Since 1986 the nearest fire to Newmarket’s homes came within 12 km, never inside 5 km.
8% of the land within 5 km of Newmarket is forest fuel, close to the 9.8% 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 burns fastest in Ontario at 0.16% a year; Newmarket, at 0.001%, ranks 83rd of 871.
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.
Newmarket is in the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns; 7.5% sit in moderate or 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 Newmarket
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Newmarket: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Nationally, Newmarket has no listed flood study; the municipality is the place to ask.
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 Newmarket.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Newmarket.
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 Newmarket $0.019 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Newmarket’s $0.019 is close to the typical town’s $0.030 (0.6 times as much).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Newmarket’s $0.019 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.
66% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Newmarket.
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 Newmarket 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).
0% of homes tested around Newmarket are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
A lower share than most: 0% of tested homes around Newmarket, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs lower around Newmarket than in most towns in Ontario: 0% against 4%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Radon rarely tops the guideline around Newmarket, as for 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 63% see 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, Newmarket’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests: one figure for all of the York Regional Health Unit
Where to get warnings in Newmarket
Alerts for Newmarket 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. |
Alert Ready carries evacuation orders for Newmarket to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Newmarket’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Newmarket | Low | $0.019 | 0% | None listed |
| Aurora 67,385 · 5.4 km | Low | $0.020 | 0% | Yes |
| East Gwillimbury 42,989 · 7.3 km | Low | $0.023 | 0% | None listed |
| Bradford 51,346 · 11 km | Low | $0.019 | 0.9% | None listed |
| King 29,077 · 15 km | Low | $0.021 | 0% | Yes |
| Stouffville 58,010 · 18 km | Low | $0.024 | 0% | Yes |
| Cathedraltown 11,029 · 18 km | Low | $0.034 | 0% | Yes |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Newmarket (low); Aurora comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Newmarket faces
What to do about the hazards Newmarket 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
- 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 Newmarket.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Newmarket’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Newmarket is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Newmarket, 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 Newmarket
Is radon a problem in Newmarket?
In Health Canada’s survey, 0% of 95 homes tested in Newmarket’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Does Newmarket flood?
Nothing is listed for Newmarket on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
How is Newmarket’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Newmarket grades A+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is Newmarket at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0% of the land within 25 km of Newmarket has burned since 1986, the last in 2006, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
How big is the earthquake risk in Newmarket?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Newmarket $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).