Photo: Edwin Lester Brittain · CC BY-SA 4.0A flood study covers Britannia: 2 on the national inventory, the newest from Municipalité de Pontiac
The national fire record shows next to nothing around Britannia, 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.001% a year). Shaking is a bigger worry than in most places, at $0.15 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). In Health Canada’s survey, 6.2% of homes tested in Britannia’s area exceeded 200 Bq/m³, close to the typical 6.6%. Britannia grades C+ for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Britannia’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Britannia: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Britannia faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Britannia: C+
The grade weighs Britannia’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
Its place: #703 of 866 in Ontario and #1,894 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. The radon share rests on 64 home tests in the survey area, so a few homes move it. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Few fires near Britannia: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Britannia’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Low: the land around Britannia burns at 0.001% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Britannia’s homes have had no fire within 5 km since 1986; the closest was 15 km away.
Close to Britannia there is little to burn (1% forest fuel within 5 km), but 9.7% of the land within 25 km is forest.
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
The land around Britannia burns at 0.001% a year, the 83rd highest rate of 871 towns in Ontario; Sioux Lookout tops it at 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; Britannia 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 Britannia is mapped in 2 studies, the newest by Municipalité de Pontiac
Flood studies whose area touches Britannia, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
For Britannia the inventory points to 2 studies, most recently Municipalité de Pontiac’s in 2016.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gatineau-Argenteuil-Collindes-de-l'Outaouais | Municipalité de Pontiac | 2016 | final |
| Ottawa River | Rideau Valley Conservation Authority | 2014 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Ontario reaches 69% of towns, Britannia included, beside 58% across Canada.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Nothing here counts toward Risk; the studies are pointers to the maps their owners keep for Britannia.
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.
High seismic risk in Britannia: $0.15 per $1,000 of buildings a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
The typical town loses $0.030 a year to shaking; Britannia loses $0.15, 5 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Above the middle in Ontario: Britannia’s $0.15 against a median of $0.043, with Alexandria highest at $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.
In the upper part of Canada’s range: 15% of its 2,611 towns expect more damage than Britannia.
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 model counts damage to Britannia’s buildings and their occupants from shaking only: not liquefaction, landslides, tsunami or fires after a quake.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean). · Earthquake risk: the city of Ottawa
6.2% of homes tested around Britannia are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Area-wide: radon tests, counted over the City of Ottawa Health Unit
Britannia’s area, at 6.2%, is close to the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
More homes top the guideline around Britannia (6.2%) than in the typical town in Ontario (4%).
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
26% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have more homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Britannia’s 5–10% band, which holds 37%.
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 Britannia only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Britannia
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Britannia; 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. |
In fire season, check CWFIS for danger and active fires around Britannia, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Britannia’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Britannia | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | Yes |
| Queensway Terrace North 3,160 · 0.9 km | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | Yes |
| Bayshore 14,491 · 1.6 km | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | Yes |
| Whitehaven - Woodpark - Glabar Park 11,111 · 1.6 km | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | Yes |
| Iris 5,733 · 1.9 km | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | None listed |
| Qualicum - Redwood 4,761 · 2.6 km | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | Yes |
| Crystal Bay - Lakeview Park 6,059 · 2.9 km | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | Yes |
The fire record around Crystal Bay - Lakeview Park is a touch heavier than Britannia’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 Britannia faces
What to do about the hazards Britannia 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.
- Drop, cover and hold on.
- Strap the water heater down.
- Keep 72 hours of supplies.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
- Is earthquake cover included?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Britannia’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Britannia is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- 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 Britannia.
- 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 Britannia’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Britannia
How is Britannia’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Britannia grades C+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is Britannia at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Britannia since 1986 (last in 2014); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Britannia?
Expected earthquake damage in Britannia comes to $0.15 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Does Britannia flood?
There is flood mapping for Britannia on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
Is radon a problem in Britannia?
Around Britannia, 64 survey homes were tested and 6.2% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
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).