Photo: the real Kam75 · CC BY-SA 2.0A flood study covers Oliver Paipoonge: 4 on the national inventory, the newest from Lakehead Region Conservation Authority
Wildfire is rare near Oliver Paipoonge: 0% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, a burn rate of 0.001% a year. Shaking is less of a worry than in most places, at $0.005 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Radon is higher than usual: 12% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Oliver Paipoonge grades A− for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Oliver Paipoonge’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Oliver Paipoonge: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Oliver Paipoonge faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Oliver Paipoonge: A−
For Oliver Paipoonge, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
Its place: #446 of 866 in Ontario and #869 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Little of the land around Oliver Paipoonge has burned: 0.2% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Oliver Paipoonge’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Around Oliver Paipoonge fire takes 0.001% of the land in a typical year, the typical Canadian town 0.000%, which is low.
There is forest near Oliver Paipoonge’s homes (53% within 5 km) and more of it further out (68% 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
Oliver Paipoonge ranks 83rd of the 871 towns in Ontario for burn rate, at 0.001% a year; Sioux Lookout leads with 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.
7.5% of Canada’s 2,610 towns burn fast enough to rank moderate or above; Oliver Paipoonge stays low, with 92%.
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 Oliver Paipoonge is mapped in 4 studies, the newest by Lakehead Region Conservation Authority
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Oliver Paipoonge: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
4 studies on the inventory touch Oliver Paipoonge, the newest Lakehead Region Conservation Authority’s from 2020, and their areas can be large, so they say maps exist, not that the town floods.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mosquito Creek | Lakehead Region Conservation Authority | 2020 | final · not public |
| Pennock Creek | Lakehead Region Conservation Authority | 2020 | final · not public |
| Kaministiquia River | Lakehead Region Conservation Authority | 2020 | final · not public |
| Neebing River | Lakehead Region Conservation Authority | 2018 | final · not public |
Towns with a flood study on file
Oliver Paipoonge is one of the 69% of towns in Ontario with a flood study on file; across Canada it is 58%.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
The 2020s brought the most flood studies for Oliver Paipoonge (3 of 4), the first dating from the 2010s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Oliver Paipoonge.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Oliver Paipoonge 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.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Oliver Paipoonge just $0.005 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Shaking costs the typical town $0.030 a year; in Oliver Paipoonge it is only $0.005, 0.2 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Oliver Paipoonge’s $0.005 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.
Nearly every one of Canada’s 2,611 towns (96%) expects more shaking damage than Oliver Paipoonge.
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 Oliver Paipoonge’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).
Test for radon in Oliver Paipoonge: 12% of area homes were over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Source area for radon tests: the Thunder Bay District Health Unit
Radon runs above the typical Canadian town (6.6%) in Oliver Paipoonge’s area, at 12%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Oliver Paipoonge’s area, at 12%, is above the median in Ontario (4%), and 0.9% of its tests passed 600 Bq/m³.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
The 10–20% band holds 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, Oliver Paipoonge among them; 4.6% rank 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.
Basements, soil and how a house is sealed decide its radon, so in Oliver Paipoonge only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Oliver Paipoonge
Alerts for Oliver Paipoonge 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 Oliver Paipoonge 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)
Hazards in the places around Oliver Paipoonge
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oliver Paipoonge | Low | $0.005 | 12% | Yes |
| Thunder Bay 117,671 · 16 km | Low | $0.005 | 12% | Yes |
| Fort William 52 1,038 · 19 km | Low | $0.004 | 12% | Yes |
The fire record around Fort William 52 is a touch heavier than Oliver Paipoonge’s, but the band is the same: low (here low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Oliver Paipoonge faces
Practical steps for Oliver Paipoonge’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
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. The flood inventory points to maps; it is incomplete and not the official source, so ask the municipality about any street in Oliver Paipoonge.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Oliver Paipoonge’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Oliver Paipoonge’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Oliver Paipoonge takes its 2007 health region’s share.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Oliver Paipoonge
Is Oliver Paipoonge at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Oliver Paipoonge’s low band (0% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2021) is short of the level that counts.
Is radon a problem in Oliver Paipoonge?
The area’s survey found 12% of 108 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Oliver Paipoonge.
How big is the earthquake risk in Oliver Paipoonge?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Oliver Paipoonge $0.005 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
How is Oliver Paipoonge’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Oliver Paipoonge grades A− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Does Oliver Paipoonge flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Oliver Paipoonge; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
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).