Photo: P199 · Public domainNipissing faces fewer hazards than 85% of Canadian towns
Burn scars are few around Nipissing, with 0% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.000% a year). Earthquake risk in Nipissing is ordinary: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.030 a year per $1,000 of value, close to the typical town’s $0.030. Fewer homes than usual carry radon here, 1.9% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Nipissing a grade of A, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Nipissing’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Nipissing: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Nipissing faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Nipissing grades A for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Nipissing 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. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Little of the land around Nipissing has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Nipissing’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Low: the land around Nipissing burns at 0.000% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Forest fuel covers 14% of the land close to Nipissing and 20% across 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
Of the 872 towns in Ontario, 639 have a burn rate that rounds to zero, Nipissing 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.
Like most of Canada’s 2,610 towns (92%), Nipissing is in the low band, with a burn rate of zero to three decimals; 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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Nipissing
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Nipissing: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
NRCan’s inventory is silent on Nipissing, so any flood map would be the municipality’s own.
Towns with a flood study on file
Nipissing 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 Nipissing 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.”
Expected shaking damage in Nipissing: $0.030 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Nipissing’s $0.030 matches the typical town’s $0.030.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Ontario expects $0.043 a year in shaking damage; Nipissing expects less, $0.030, and Alexandria the most, $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.
Neither high nor low for Canada: 48% of the 2,611 towns expect more damage than Nipissing.
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).
The loss is to Nipissing’s buildings alone, from ground shaking; infrastructure and secondary hazards are left out.
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 Nipissing: 1.9% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Radon runs below the typical Canadian town (6.6%) in Nipissing’s area, at 1.9%. Nipissing shares its radon tests numbers with the rest of the North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The median in Ontario is 4% over 200 Bq/m³; around Nipissing it is 1.9%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Nipissing 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.
The share describes the area, not a house: in Nipissing as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Nipissing
Alerts for Nipissing 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. |
Evacuation orders for Nipissing come from the municipality or the province, while CWFIS maps fire danger every day.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Nipissing’s neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
Powassan (low) has the heaviest fire record of Nipissing’s neighbours, and Nipissing (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Nipissing faces
What to do about the hazards Nipissing 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
- Radon is a survey. Radon figures pool the survey’s home tests by area: postal areas once their boundaries arrive, the 2007 health region around Nipissing until then.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Nipissing’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Shaking damage is modelled from the ground, the buildings and the odds of each quake, and published for whole subdivisions such as Nipissing’s.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Nipissing without grading them.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Nipissing
How is Nipissing’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Nipissing’s Hazard risk grade is A, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
How big is the earthquake risk in Nipissing?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Nipissing’s buildings lose $0.030 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is radon a problem in Nipissing?
In Health Canada’s survey, 1.9% of 103 homes tested in Nipissing’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Does Nipissing flood?
Nothing is listed for Nipissing on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
Is Nipissing at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0% of the land within 25 km of Nipissing has burned since 1986, the last in 2012, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
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).