Photo: Paul Tavares · CC BY-SA 3.0New Edinburgh is on Canada’s flood inventory: 7 listed, led by Rideau Valley Conservation Authority
Wildfire barely registers for New Edinburgh, at 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.001% a year). Seismic risk runs high: $0.15 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. New Edinburgh’s survey area, 6.2% over the radon guideline, is close to the typical town’s 6.6%. New Edinburgh grades C+ for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about New Edinburgh’s hazards
For New Edinburgh, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What New Edinburgh faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
New Edinburgh grades C+ for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for New Edinburgh, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
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. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Wildfire is rare near New Edinburgh: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around New Edinburgh’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Forty years of fire maps put New Edinburgh at 0.001% a year, low next to the typical Canadian town’s 0.000%.
The 5 km ring around New Edinburgh’s homes is clear of burns since 1986, the nearest 18 km out.
Homes in New Edinburgh sit on open or built-up ground (0.5% forest fuel within 5 km); the wider 25 km holds 8.5%.
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
New Edinburgh ranks 83rd of the 871 towns in Ontario for burn rate, at 0.001% a year; Sioux Lookout leads with 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.
Low, like 92% of the country’s 2,610 towns: the land around New Edinburgh burns, but slower than in the 7.5% above it.
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 New Edinburgh is mapped in 7 studies, the newest by Rideau Valley Conservation Authority
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for New Edinburgh: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The newest of 7 studies covering New Edinburgh is Rideau Valley Conservation Authority’s, from 2019; open its map to see the zones.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Billberry Creek | Rideau Valley Conservation Authority | 2019 | final |
| Becketts Creek | Rideau Valley Conservation Authority | 2018 | final |
| Rideau River, Hogs Back to Rideau Falls | Rideau Valley Conservation Authority | 2016 | final |
| Gatineau-Argenteuil-Collindes-de-l'Outaouais | Municipalité de Pontiac | 2016 | final |
| Cardinal Creek | Rideau Valley Conservation Authority | 2014 | final |
| Ottawa River | Rideau Valley Conservation Authority | 2014 | final |
| Ville-de-Gatineau | Ville de Gatineau | 2014 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Ontario reaches 69% of towns, New Edinburgh 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.
Flood mapping is shown for New Edinburgh 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.
High seismic risk in New Edinburgh: $0.15 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
The typical town loses $0.030 a year to shaking; New Edinburgh loses $0.15, 5 times as much.
For earthquake risk, the only official count covers all of the city of Ottawa, New Edinburgh included.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Above the middle in Ontario: New Edinburgh’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.
New Edinburgh 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 New Edinburgh 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).
Radon about average around New Edinburgh: 6.2% over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Near the middle for radon: New Edinburgh’s area 6.2%, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around New Edinburgh 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.
A middling share of high tests puts New Edinburgh with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, below 26% of them.
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.
Health Canada advises testing every home, New Edinburgh’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Data for radon tests covers the City of Ottawa Health Unit
Where to get warnings in New Edinburgh
Alerts for New Edinburgh 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. |
Evacuation orders for New Edinburgh come from the municipality or the province, while CWFIS maps fire danger every day.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How New Edinburgh’s neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Edinburgh | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | Yes |
| Lowertown East 6,996 · 1.2 km | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | Yes |
| Vanier North 10,498 · 1.2 km | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | Yes |
| Lowertown West 5,947 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | Yes |
| Manor Park 9,491 · 1.9 km | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | Yes |
| Sandy Hill 13,830 · 1.9 km | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | Yes |
| Vanier South 7,259 · 2.0 km | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | Yes |
Lowertown East (low) has the heaviest fire record of New Edinburgh’s neighbours, and New Edinburgh (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what New Edinburgh faces
What to do about the hazards New Edinburgh 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
- 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 New Edinburgh floods.
- 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 New Edinburgh.
- 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 New Edinburgh sits in.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, New Edinburgh’s included.
Questions about flooding and hazards in New Edinburgh
How big is the earthquake risk in New Edinburgh?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in New Edinburgh $0.15 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is New Edinburgh at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around New Edinburgh since 1986 (last in 2020); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
Does New Edinburgh flood?
New Edinburgh’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
How is New Edinburgh’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives New Edinburgh C+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is radon a problem in New Edinburgh?
Around New Edinburgh, 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).