Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0Hazards in Carp: wildfire low, radon over the guideline in 6.2% of tested homes
Little of the land around Carp has burned: 0.1% within 25 km since 1986, or 0.002% 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). Hazard risk gives Carp a grade of C+; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Carp’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Carp: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Carp faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Carp: C+
For Carp, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
Its place: #703 of 866 in Ontario and #1,894 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Only 64 homes were tested in the survey area, so the radon share is rough. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Few fires near Carp: 0% within 5 km, 0.1% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Carp’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Fire claims 0.002% of the land around Carp each year, a low band, with the typical Canadian town at 0.000%.
Carp’s homes have had no fire within 5 km since 1986; the closest was 11 km away.
Near or far, forest fuel covers a similar share around Carp: 15% within 5 km and 13% 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
At 0.002% a year, Carp is near the top in Ontario: 54th of 871, 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.
Beside 2,610 Canadian towns, Carp reads low, with 92% of them; only 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 Carp
Flood studies whose area touches Carp, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
NRCan’s inventory is silent on Carp, so any flood map would be the municipality’s own.
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Ontario reaches 69% of towns, beside 58% across Canada, but not Carp.
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 Carp.
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.”
High seismic risk in Carp: $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.
Roughly 5 times the typical $0.030: Carp’s $0.15 marks real seismic exposure.
Carp doesn’t get its own earthquake risk figures; the ones here come from the city of Ottawa.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Carp’s $0.15 tops the median in Ontario, $0.043, though Alexandria reaches $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.
15% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Carp, 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).
The loss is to Carp’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).
6.2% of homes tested around Carp are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Carp’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
The median in Ontario is 4% over 200 Bq/m³; the survey area around Carp has 6.2%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns share Carp’s band of 5 to 10%; 26% sit higher.
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 Carp 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). · Radon tests published for the City of Ottawa Health Unit, not by town
Weather and fire alerts for Carp
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Carp; 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 Carp 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 Carp
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carp | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | None listed |
| Brookside - Briarbrook - Morgans Grant 15,509 · 7.4 km | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | None listed |
| Kanata Lakes 19,861 · 8.4 km | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | None listed |
| Dunrobin 5,724 · 9.4 km | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | Yes |
| Corkery 3,822 · 9.5 km | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | Yes |
| Beaverbrook 6,762 · 10 km | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | None listed |
| Stittsville North 13,331 · 11 km | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | None listed |
The neighbour with the most fire is Brookside - Briarbrook - Morgans Grant (low), still no more than Carp (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Carp faces
Practical steps for Carp’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.
- Drop, cover and hold on.
- Strap the water heater down.
- Keep 72 hours of supplies.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
- Is earthquake cover included?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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 Carp’s.
- 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 Carp until then.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Carp’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Carp without grading them.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Carp
Is radon a problem in Carp?
The area’s survey found 6.2% of 64 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Carp.
Does Carp flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Carp, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
Is Carp at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Carp’s low band (0.1% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2020) is short of the level that counts.
How is Carp’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Carp’s Hazard risk grade is C+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
How big is the earthquake risk in Carp?
About $0.15 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Carp.
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).