Greenboro West’s hazards at a glance: a low wildfire record and 6.2% of area homes over the radon guideline
Around Greenboro West, wildfire is practically absent from the record: 0% within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. Earthquakes add more: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.15 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Greenboro West a grade of C+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Greenboro West’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Greenboro West: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Greenboro West faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Greenboro West: C+
The grade weighs Greenboro West’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 Greenboro West: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Greenboro West’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
In a typical year 0.000% of the land near Greenboro West burns; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%, and both are low.
The 5 km ring around Greenboro West’s homes is clear of burns since 1986, the nearest 25 km out.
Close to Greenboro West there is little to burn (2.8% forest fuel within 5 km), but 5.9% 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
Near-zero burning puts Greenboro West 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.
Measured against 2,610 towns, Greenboro West is in the largest group, low (92%), and at its floor, while 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 Greenboro West
Flood studies whose area touches Greenboro West, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
The inventory has nothing for Greenboro West, but a local or conservation-authority map may still exist.
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are common in Ontario, 69% of towns against 58% nationally, but none in the inventory touches Greenboro West.
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 Greenboro West.
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.”
Earthquakes cost buildings in Greenboro West $0.15 per $1,000 a year
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, Greenboro West carries roughly 5 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030).
Figures for earthquake risk are published for the city of Ottawa as a whole, not for Greenboro West alone.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Ontario expects $0.043 a year; Greenboro West expects $0.15, and Alexandria $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 Greenboro West.
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 Greenboro West’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).
Some radon around Greenboro West: 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.
The survey area of Greenboro West reads 6.2%, a shade from the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. For radon tests, the only official count covers all of the City of Ottawa Health Unit, Greenboro West included.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Greenboro West 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.
Greenboro West 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.
Basements, soil and how a house is sealed decide its radon, so in Greenboro West only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Greenboro West
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Greenboro West; 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. |
For fires near Greenboro West, the national fire information system maps danger and active fires daily; local authorities give any evacuation order.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Greenboro West
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greenboro West | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | None listed |
| South Keys 2,865 · 1.0 km | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | None listed |
| Greenboro East 4,800 · 1.1 km | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | None listed |
| Emerald Woods - Sawmill Creek 5,714 · 1.5 km | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | None listed |
| Blossom Park - Timbermill 8,907 · 1.5 km | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | None listed |
| Ledbury-Heron Gate-Ridgemont 15,610 · 1.6 km | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | None listed |
| Hunt Club Park 8,556 · 2.4 km | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | None listed |
Fire is no heavier anywhere nearby than around Greenboro West (low), with South Keys next at low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Greenboro West faces
What to do about the hazards Greenboro West 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
- 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 Greenboro West until then.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Greenboro West without grading them.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Greenboro West’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- 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 Greenboro West’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Greenboro West
How is Greenboro West’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Greenboro West C+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
How big is the earthquake risk in Greenboro West?
Expected earthquake damage in Greenboro West comes to $0.15 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Does Greenboro West flood?
Nothing is listed for Greenboro West on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
Is radon a problem in Greenboro West?
In Health Canada’s survey, 6.2% of 64 homes tested in Greenboro West’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Is Greenboro West at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0% of the land within 25 km of Greenboro West has burned since 1986, the last in 2014, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
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).