Photo: Andre Carrotflower · CC BY-SA 4.0Wildfire moderate, radon 12%: how Nipigon stands on hazards
Wildfire is a moderate presence around Nipigon: 2.3% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, 0.06% a year, short of the band that counts against Risk. Earthquakes matter little: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.003 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Nipigon grades A− for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Nipigon’s hazards
For Nipigon, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Nipigon faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Nipigon: A−
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Nipigon with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
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.
A moderate wildfire record for Nipigon: 2.3% within 25 km burned, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Nipigon’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
At 0.06% of the land a year, Nipigon’s burn rate is moderate; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Nipigon’s homes have had no fire within 5 km since 1986; the closest was 17 km away.
There is forest near Nipigon’s homes (53% within 5 km) and more of it further out (60% 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
At 0.06% a year, Nipigon is near the top in Ontario: 9th of 872, behind Sioux Lookout (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.
Nipigon is in the moderate band, which holds 5.4% of Canada’s 2,610 towns; 2.1% 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 Nipigon
Flood studies whose area touches Nipigon, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
No flood study on the national inventory covers Nipigon; ask the municipality, which is the authority for its flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Ontario reaches 69% of towns, beside 58% across Canada, but not Nipigon.
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 Nipigon.
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 Nipigon just $0.003 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.
0.1 times the typical $0.030: Nipigon’s $0.003 is low for Canada.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in Ontario peaks in Alexandria ($0.21); Nipigon, at $0.003, is below the median of $0.043.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
At the bottom of Canada’s range, Nipigon has 99% of the 2,611 towns above it.
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).
For Nipigon the model prices shaking damage to buildings, nothing more.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
12% of homes tested around Nipigon are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
More homes than usual test high around Nipigon: 12% against 6.6% for the typical Canadian town. Figures for radon tests are published for the Thunder Bay District Health Unit as a whole, not for Nipigon alone.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
More homes top the guideline around Nipigon (12%) than in the typical town in Ontario (4%); 0.9% went over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
More high tests than most: Nipigon sits in a band that only 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns share, with 4.6% above.
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 Nipigon’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 Nipigon
Alerts for Nipigon 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 Nipigon to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Get ready for what Nipigon faces
What to do about the hazards Nipigon faces, and what to ask before you buy.
- Clear needles and wood nearby.
- Keep a grab-and-go bag ready.
- In smoke, stay in; filter air.
- 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.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- How close is the forest edge?
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Wildfire counts one way. For Nipigon, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- 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 Nipigon floods.
- 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 Nipigon sits in.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Nipigon’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
Questions about flooding and hazards in Nipigon
Is Nipigon at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 2.3% of the land around Nipigon since 1986 (last in 2017); at moderate, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Nipigon?
Expected earthquake damage in Nipigon comes to $0.003 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is radon a problem in Nipigon?
Around Nipigon, 108 survey homes were tested and 12% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Does Nipigon flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Nipigon’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
How is Nipigon’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Nipigon A−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
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).