Photo: Andre Carrotflower · CC BY-SA 4.0Few places are as safe from hazards as Penetanguishene: it beats almost every Canadian town
Since 1986 almost nothing has burned near Penetanguishene: 0% of the land within 25 km, or 0.000% a year. Seismic risk runs low: $0.011 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. In Health Canada’s survey, just 0.9% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Hazard risk gives Penetanguishene a grade of A+; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Penetanguishene’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Penetanguishene: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Penetanguishene faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Penetanguishene: A+
The grade weighs Penetanguishene’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: #3 of 866 in Ontario and #12 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Wildfire is rare near Penetanguishene: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Penetanguishene’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
With 0.000% burned a year, Penetanguishene is among the many low-band places (the typical Canadian town 0.000%).
The nearer ring around Penetanguishene is less wooded (9.5% forest fuel) than the land out to 25 km (25%).
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
Of the 871 towns in Ontario, 638 have a burn rate that rounds to zero, Penetanguishene among them; Sioux Lookout leads at 0.16% a year.
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.
Like most of Canada’s 2,610 towns (92%), Penetanguishene is in the low band, with a burn rate of zero to three decimals; 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 Penetanguishene
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Penetanguishene: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
There is no study for Penetanguishene 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%; Penetanguishene 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 is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Penetanguishene’s homes stand in a flood zone.
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.”
Low seismic risk in Penetanguishene: $0.011 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
0.4 times the typical $0.030: Penetanguishene’s $0.011 is low for Canada.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Ontario expects $0.043 a year in shaking damage; Penetanguishene expects less, $0.011, and Alexandria the most, $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.
85% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Penetanguishene.
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 Penetanguishene’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).
Little radon around Penetanguishene: 0.9% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Radon tests for the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit
Penetanguishene’s survey area reads 0.9% over the guideline, under the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Against the typical town in Ontario (4%), the area around Penetanguishene has fewer high tests: 0.9%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
The quietest radon band, under 5%, holds 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns and Penetanguishene; 63% sit 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.
The survey sampled homes around Penetanguishene; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Penetanguishene
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Penetanguishene; 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 Penetanguishene, 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)
How Penetanguishene’s neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
Midland (low) has the heaviest fire record of Penetanguishene’s neighbours, and Penetanguishene (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Penetanguishene faces
What to do about the hazards Penetanguishene 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.
- Clear needles and wood nearby.
- Keep a grab-and-go bag ready.
- In smoke, stay in; filter air.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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 Penetanguishene sits in.
- 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 Penetanguishene’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 Penetanguishene floods.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Penetanguishene’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Penetanguishene
Does Penetanguishene flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Penetanguishene’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
How is Penetanguishene’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Penetanguishene A+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is radon a problem in Penetanguishene?
Around Penetanguishene, 109 survey homes were tested and 0.9% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How big is the earthquake risk in Penetanguishene?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Penetanguishene $0.011 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is Penetanguishene at risk of wildfire?
Hardly at all on record: 0% of the land within 25 km of Penetanguishene since 1986, a low band, though small grass fires aren’t mapped.
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).