Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 4.0Flood mapping exists for Dunrobin: 2 on record, latest by Municipalité de Pontiac
Wildfire is rare near Dunrobin: 0.1% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, a burn rate of 0.002% a year. Seismic risk runs high: $0.15 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. About as many homes carry radon around Dunrobin as elsewhere, 6.2% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Dunrobin a grade of C+; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Dunrobin’s hazards
For Dunrobin, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Dunrobin faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Dunrobin grades C+ for hazard risk
The grade weighs Dunrobin’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. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Wildfire is rare near Dunrobin: 0.1% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Dunrobin’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Forty years of fire maps put Dunrobin at 0.002% a year, low next to the typical Canadian town’s 0.000%.
9.7% of the land within 5 km of Dunrobin is forest fuel, close to the 15% 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
The land around Dunrobin burns at 0.002% a year, the 54th 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; Dunrobin 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.
Dunrobin is on the flood map inventory: 2 studies, latest by Municipalité de Pontiac
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Dunrobin: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
2 studies on the inventory touch Dunrobin, the newest Municipalité de Pontiac’s from 2016, and their areas can be large, so they say maps exist, not that the town floods.
| 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
69% of towns in Ontario have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Dunrobin has one too.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood mapping is shown for Dunrobin to be opened and checked, never turned into a grade.
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 Dunrobin $0.15 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.15 per $1,000, Dunrobin carries roughly 5 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in Ontario peaks in Alexandria ($0.21); Dunrobin, at $0.15, sits above 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.
Dunrobin sits above most of Canada’s 2,611 towns on earthquake risk; 15% are higher.
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 Dunrobin 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). · Area behind the earthquake risk figures: the city of Ottawa
Some radon around Dunrobin: 6.2% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
At 6.2% over the guideline, the area around Dunrobin is about level with the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
More homes top the guideline around Dunrobin (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 Dunrobin’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.
Neighbouring homes in Dunrobin can differ a lot; only a long-term test tells you about yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests: one figure for all of the City of Ottawa Health Unit
Where to get warnings in Dunrobin
Alerts for Dunrobin 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 Dunrobin to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Dunrobin
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dunrobin | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | Yes |
| Pontiac 6,490 · 7.4 km | Low | $0.10 | 13% | Yes |
| Brookside - Briarbrook - Morgans Grant 15,509 · 9.0 km | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | None listed |
| Carp 5,621 · 9.4 km | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | None listed |
| Des Explorateurs 31,128 · 11 km | Low | $0.12 | 13% | Yes |
| Kanata Lakes 19,861 · 13 km | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | None listed |
| Beaverbrook 6,762 · 13 km | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | None listed |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Dunrobin (low); Brookside - Briarbrook - Morgans Grant comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Dunrobin faces
What to do about the hazards Dunrobin 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
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Dunrobin takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- 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 Dunrobin.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Dunrobin’s included.
- Wildfire counts one way. Burned land within 25 km of where people live, averaged over 1986–2025 and checked for fuel near homes, is the measure; it looks back, not ahead, and only ever counts against Dunrobin.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Dunrobin
Is radon a problem in Dunrobin?
In Health Canada’s survey, 6.2% of 64 homes tested in Dunrobin’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Is Dunrobin at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0.1% of the land within 25 km of Dunrobin has burned since 1986, the last in 2021, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
How big is the earthquake risk in Dunrobin?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Dunrobin $0.15 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
How is Dunrobin’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Dunrobin grades C+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Does Dunrobin flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Dunrobin; 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).