Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domainHazards in Findlay Creek: wildfire low, radon over the guideline in 6.2% of tested homes
The burned-area map is nearly blank around Findlay Creek, 0% within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% 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 Findlay Creek a grade of C+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Findlay Creek’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Findlay Creek: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Findlay Creek faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Findlay Creek: C+
The grade weighs Findlay Creek’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: 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 Findlay Creek: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Findlay Creek’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
With 0.000% burned a year, Findlay Creek is among the many low-band places (the typical Canadian town 0.000%).
Near or far, forest fuel covers a similar share around Findlay Creek: 6.2% within 5 km and 4.2% 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
Near-zero burning puts Findlay Creek with 638 of the 871 towns in Ontario, far below Sioux Lookout 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.
Most of the country’s 2,610 towns are low-band (92%, against 7.5% above); around Findlay Creek, burning rounds to zero.
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 Findlay Creek
Flood studies whose area touches Findlay Creek, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
There is no study for Findlay Creek on the national flood inventory, which is far from complete.
Towns with a flood study on file
69% of towns in Ontario have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Findlay Creek is not yet one of them.
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 Findlay Creek 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.”
Shaking is Findlay Creek’s costliest hazard: $0.15 a year per $1,000
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
At $0.15 per $1,000, Findlay Creek carries roughly 5 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.15, Findlay Creek is above the typical town in Ontario ($0.043); Alexandria has the most 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.
More earthquake risk than most: only 15% of Canada’s 2,611 towns are above Findlay Creek.
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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Findlay Creek’s figure, nor landslides or tsunami: it is buildings and shaking.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean). · Data for earthquake risk covers the city of Ottawa
Some radon around Findlay Creek: 6.2% of area homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Around Findlay Creek, 6.2% of tested homes topped the guideline, near the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Findlay Creek than in most towns in Ontario: 6.2% against 4%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Findlay Creek is in the 5–10% band with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% 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.
A survey sample isn’t a map: any home in Findlay Creek 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). · Area behind the radon tests figures: the City of Ottawa Health Unit
Weather and fire alerts for Findlay Creek
Alerts for Findlay Creek 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. |
Fire danger and active fires near Findlay Creek are mapped daily by the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System; evacuation orders come from the municipality or province.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Findlay Creek
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Findlay Creek | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | None listed |
| Blossom Park - Timbermill 8,907 · 3.9 km | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | None listed |
| Emerald Woods - Sawmill Creek 5,714 · 4.5 km | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | None listed |
| Greenboro West 5,597 · 5.4 km | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | None listed |
| Greenboro East 4,800 · 5.6 km | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | None listed |
| South Keys 2,865 · 5.7 km | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | None listed |
| Old Hunt Club 16,270 · 6.1 km | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | Yes |
Blossom Park - Timbermill (low) has the heaviest fire record of Findlay Creek’s neighbours, and Findlay Creek (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Findlay Creek faces
What to do about the hazards Findlay Creek 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?
- 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. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Findlay Creek’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. A study’s area can be a whole watershed or province, so being on the inventory says a map exists, not that a home in Findlay Creek floods.
- Radon is a survey. The radon share comes from about 14,000 long-term home tests in 2009–2011, pooled for now by the 2007 health region Findlay Creek sits in.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Findlay Creek’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Findlay Creek
Does Findlay Creek flood?
Nothing is listed for Findlay Creek on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
Is radon a problem in Findlay Creek?
In Health Canada’s survey, 6.2% of 64 homes tested in Findlay Creek’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
How is Findlay Creek’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Findlay Creek’s Hazard risk grade is C+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
How big is the earthquake risk in Findlay Creek?
About $0.15 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Findlay Creek.
Is Findlay Creek at risk of wildfire?
Very little by the national record: Findlay Creek’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, so wildfire doesn’t change its 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).