Photo: Ross Dunn · CC BY-SA 2.0Vanier North is on Canada’s flood inventory: 1 listed, led by Rideau Valley Conservation Authority
The national fire record shows next to nothing around Vanier North, 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.001% 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. Radon around Vanier North is ordinary for Canada: 6.2% of tested homes over the guideline (6.6% typical). Hazard risk gives Vanier North a grade of C+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Vanier North’s hazards
For Vanier North, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Vanier North faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Vanier North grades C+ for hazard risk
Earthquake risk and radon make Vanier North’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
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.
Little of the land around Vanier North has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Vanier North’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Low: the land around Vanier North burns at 0.001% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
The closest burn since 1986 lies 20 km from Vanier North’s homes, none within 5 km.
8.4% of the land within 25 km of Vanier North is forest fuel, yet only 0.6% within 5 km of its homes.
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 0.001% a year, Vanier North is near the top in Ontario: 83rd 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.
The low band takes in 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, Vanier North among them, though its rate is above zero; 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.
A flood study covers Vanier North, from Rideau Valley Conservation Authority: 1 on the inventory
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Vanier North: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
A 2016 study by Rideau Valley Conservation Authority covers Vanier North, and its map, not the inventory, shows the zones.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rideau River, Hogs Back to Rideau Falls | Rideau Valley Conservation Authority | 2016 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
69% of towns in Ontario have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Vanier North has one too.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Vanier North’s homes are at risk.
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 Vanier North $0.15 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Roughly 5 times the typical $0.030: Vanier North’s $0.15 marks real seismic exposure.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in Ontario peaks in Alexandria ($0.21); Vanier North, 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.
15% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Vanier North, 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).
For Vanier North 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). · Earthquake risk published for the city of Ottawa, not by town
6.2% of homes tested around Vanier North are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Area-wide: radon tests, counted over the City of Ottawa Health Unit
At 6.2% over the guideline, the area around Vanier North is about level with the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Vanier North 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.
Between 5% and 10% of tests over the guideline: Vanier North, and 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% are 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 low area share in Vanier North doesn’t clear a house, nor does a high one condemn it: test.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Vanier North
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Vanier North; 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 Vanier North 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 Vanier North
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vanier North | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | Yes |
| Vanier South 7,259 · 0.9 km | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | Yes |
| New Edinburgh 5,728 · 1.2 km | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | Yes |
| Manor Park 9,491 · 1.2 km | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | Yes |
| Overbrook 19,953 · 1.8 km | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | Yes |
| Lowertown East 6,996 · 1.8 km | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | Yes |
| Sandy Hill 13,830 · 2.0 km | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | Yes |
Vanier North’s low band tops its neighbours; New Edinburgh is next (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Vanier North faces
Practical steps for Vanier North’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?
- 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
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Vanier North’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 Vanier North.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Vanier North 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 Vanier North.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Vanier North
Is Vanier North at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Vanier North’s low band (0% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2020) is short of the level that counts.
How big is the earthquake risk in Vanier North?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Vanier North $0.15 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is radon a problem in Vanier North?
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 Vanier North.
Does Vanier North flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Vanier North; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
How is Vanier North’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Vanier North grades C+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers 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).