Photo: Don-vip · CC BY-SA 3.0Flood mapping exists for Niagara Falls: 14 on record, latest by Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority
No wildfire is mapped within 25 km of Niagara Falls’ homes since 1986 (0% of the land, 0.000% a year). Earthquakes add more: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.066 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Fewer homes than usual carry radon here, 2% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Niagara Falls a grade of B+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Niagara Falls’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Niagara Falls: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Niagara Falls faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Niagara Falls: B+
Earthquake risk and radon make Niagara Falls’ grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
Its place: #475 of 866 in Ontario and #923 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.
Little of the land around Niagara Falls has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Niagara Falls’ homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
With 0.000% burned a year, Niagara Falls is among the many low-band places (the typical Canadian town 0.000%).
Forest fuel is scarce around Niagara Falls: 1.6% of the land within 5 km, 1.1% 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
Of the 871 towns in Ontario, 638 have a burn rate that rounds to zero, Niagara Falls among them; Sioux Lookout leads at 0.16% a year.
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 Niagara Falls 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.
Flooding around Niagara Falls is mapped in 14 studies, the newest by Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Niagara Falls: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
For Niagara Falls the inventory points to 14 studies, most recently Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority’s in 2018.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Welland River | Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority | 2018 | final |
| Lyons Creek | Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority | 2011 | final |
| Bayers Creek | Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority | 2009 | final |
| Usshers Creek | Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority | 2009 | final |
| Hunters Drain | Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority | 2008 | final |
| Niagara-On-The-Lake | Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority | 2008 | final |
| Fort Erie Creeks | Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority | 2008 | final |
| BeaverdamsCreek | Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority | final |
6 more studies on the inventory touch Niagara Falls.
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are common in Ontario: 69% of towns have one, against 58% nationally, and Niagara Falls is among them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
The busiest decade for flood studies around Niagara Falls was the 2000s (5 of 7); they run from the 2000s to the 2010s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Niagara Falls.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Niagara Falls’ 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.
Shaking is Niagara Falls’ costliest hazard: $0.066 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Roughly 2.2 times the typical $0.030: Niagara Falls’ $0.066 marks real seismic exposure.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Ontario expects $0.043 a year; Niagara Falls expects $0.066, and Alexandria $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.
29% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Niagara Falls, 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 Niagara Falls’ 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).
Radon runs low around Niagara Falls: 2% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Niagara Falls’ area, at 2%, 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
Fewer homes top the guideline around Niagara Falls (2%) than in the typical town in Ontario (4%), yet 2% went over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Under 5% puts Niagara Falls 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.
A survey sample isn’t a map: any home in Niagara Falls can be high, and a three-month test is the only way to know.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Data for radon tests covers the Niagara Regional Area Health Unit
Weather and fire alerts for Niagara Falls
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Niagara Falls; 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 Niagara Falls come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Niagara Falls
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Niagara Falls | Low | $0.066 | 2% | Yes |
| Thorold 33,844 · 9.5 km | Low | $0.061 | 2% | Yes |
| St. Catharines 153,865 · 14 km | Low | $0.066 | 2% | Yes |
| Niagara-on-the-Lake 20,080 · 14 km | Low | $0.062 | 2% | Yes |
| Welland 66,480 · 17 km | Low | $0.069 | 2% | Yes |
| Pelham 19,980 · 17 km | Low | $0.055 | 2% | Yes |
The neighbour with the most fire is Thorold (low), still no more than Niagara Falls (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Niagara Falls faces
Practical steps for Niagara Falls’ 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
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Niagara Falls’ homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- 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 Niagara Falls sits in.
- 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 Niagara Falls floods.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Niagara Falls’ figure is its subdivision’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Niagara Falls
How big is the earthquake risk in Niagara Falls?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Niagara Falls’ buildings lose $0.066 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Does Niagara Falls flood?
Niagara Falls’ area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
How is Niagara Falls’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Niagara Falls’ Hazard risk grade is B+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is radon a problem in Niagara Falls?
The area’s survey found 2% of 100 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Niagara Falls.
Is Niagara Falls at risk of wildfire?
The burned-area record shows next to nothing around Niagara Falls (0% within 25 km since 1986), so its band is low.
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).