Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0A flood study covers West Centretown: 1 on the national inventory, the newest from Rideau Valley Conservation Authority
Wildfire isn’t West Centretown’s worry: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (0.001% 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). West Centretown’s survey area, 6.2% over the radon guideline, is close to the typical town’s 6.6%. West Centretown grades C+ for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about West Centretown’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for West Centretown: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What West Centretown faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in West Centretown: C+
Earthquake risk and radon make West Centretown’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: 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.
Little of the land around West Centretown has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where West Centretown’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
The land within 25 km of West Centretown burns at 0.001% a year on average, the low band; the typical Canadian town: 0.000%.
West Centretown’s homes have had no fire within 5 km since 1986; the closest was 17 km away.
Homes in West Centretown sit on open or built-up ground (0.6% forest fuel within 5 km); the wider 25 km holds 8%.
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, West Centretown 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.
Some fire is mapped around West Centretown, but not enough to leave the low band, where 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are; 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 West Centretown, from Rideau Valley Conservation Authority: 1 on the inventory
Flood studies whose area touches West Centretown, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
For West Centretown the inventory points to Rideau Valley Conservation Authority’s 2014 study, whose map is the one to check.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ottawa River | Rideau Valley Conservation Authority | 2014 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
West Centretown is one of the 69% of towns in Ontario with a flood study on file; across Canada it is 58%.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for West Centretown.
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 West Centretown: $0.15 per $1,000 of buildings a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
West Centretown’s $0.15 is about 5 times the typical town’s $0.030: it sits in one of Canada’s more active seismic zones.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Ontario expects $0.043 a year; West Centretown 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.
15% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than West Centretown, 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).
The model counts damage to West Centretown’s buildings and their occupants from shaking only: not liquefaction, landslides, tsunami or fires after a quake.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean). · Earthquake risk: one figure for all of the city of Ottawa
6.2% of homes tested around West Centretown are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
At 6.2% over the guideline, the area around West Centretown is about level with the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. West Centretown doesn’t get its own radon tests figures; the ones here come from the City of Ottawa Health Unit.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around West Centretown 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.
Radon tops the guideline in a modest share of homes around West Centretown, a band holding 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% rank above.
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.
One home in West Centretown can be high while next door is low; a three-month test settles it.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for West Centretown
Alerts for West Centretown 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 West Centretown 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)
Hazards in the places around West Centretown
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| West Centretown | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | Yes |
| Centretown 32,035 · 1.2 km | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | Yes |
| Hintonburg-Mechanicsville 10,966 · 1.5 km | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | Yes |
| Glebe-Dows Lake 13,436 · 1.6 km | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | Yes |
| Civic Hospital 6,091 · 1.6 km | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | None listed |
| Island Park-Wellington Village 5,486 · 2.6 km | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | Yes |
| Old Ottawa East 8,308 · 2.7 km | Low | $0.15 | 6.2% | Yes |
Nowhere around West Centretown burns more: Centretown, the closest rival, is low to its low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what West Centretown faces
Practical steps for West Centretown’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
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around West Centretown’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; West Centretown’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 West Centretown 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 West Centretown sits in.
Questions about flooding and hazards in West Centretown
Does West Centretown flood?
West Centretown’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
Is radon a problem in West Centretown?
6.2% of the 64 homes Health Canada tested around West Centretown topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How big is the earthquake risk in West Centretown?
Expected earthquake damage in West Centretown comes to $0.15 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is West Centretown at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: West Centretown’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2014), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
How is West Centretown’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
West Centretown’s Hazard risk grade is C+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
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).