Photo: JFVoll · CC BY-SA 4.0Flood mapping exists for Plattsville: 1 on record, latest by Grand River Conservation Authority
Since 1986 almost nothing has burned near Plattsville: 0% of the land within 25 km, or 0.000% a year. Earthquake risk in Plattsville is ordinary: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.022 a year per $1,000 of value, close to the typical town’s $0.030. In Health Canada’s survey, 12% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Hazard risk gives Plattsville a grade of C+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Plattsville’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Plattsville: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Plattsville faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Plattsville grades C+ for hazard risk
Seismic risk and radon set Plattsville’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
Its place: #666 of 866 in Ontario and #1,763 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.
Little of the land around Plattsville has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Plattsville’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Next to the typical Canadian town (0.000% a year), Plattsville’s 0.000% is in the low band.
Forest fuel is scarce around Plattsville: 1.6% of the land within 5 km, 1.4% within 25 km.
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
Fire has taken almost none of the land around Plattsville, as for 638 of the 871 towns in Ontario; Sioux Lookout tops the list 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.
Plattsville shares the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, its burn rate rounding to nothing; 7.5% burn faster.
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 Plattsville, from Grand River Conservation Authority: 1 on the inventory
Flood studies whose area touches Plattsville, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
The flood study touching Plattsville is Grand River Conservation Authority’s, dated 2018; its own map shows the zones street by street.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grand River Regulatory Floodplain | Grand River Conservation Authority | 2018 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
69% of towns in Ontario have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Plattsville has one too.
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 Plattsville’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.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
Expected shaking damage in Plattsville: $0.022 a year per $1,000
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
With $0.022 of shaking damage a year per $1,000, Plattsville is about even with the typical $0.030 (0.7 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Ontario expects $0.043 a year in shaking damage; Plattsville expects less, $0.022, 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.
Plattsville’s earthquake risk lands near the centre of Canada’s range; 61% of the 2,611 towns 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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Plattsville’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).
12% of homes tested around Plattsville are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Source area for radon tests: the Oxford County Health Unit
A higher share than most: 12% of tested homes around Plattsville, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Plattsville, 12% of tests were over 200 Bq/m³ and 1% over 600, against a median of 4% in Ontario.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
More high tests than most: Plattsville sits in a band that only 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns share, with 4.6% 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.
The survey sampled homes around Plattsville; 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 Plattsville
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Plattsville; 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 Plattsville, 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 Plattsville
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plattsville | Low | $0.022 | 12% | Yes |
| Ayr 13,051 · 13 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| Paris 45,565 · 16 km | Low | $0.027 | 10% | Yes |
| Rosenberg 9,831 · 18 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| Huron South 5,555 · 18 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| Woodstock 55,572 · 18 km | Low | $0.019 | 12% | Yes |
| Doon South 15,044 · 19 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
The neighbour with the most fire is Ayr (low), still no more than Plattsville (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Plattsville faces
Practical steps for Plattsville’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.
- Clear needles and wood nearby.
- Keep a grab-and-go bag ready.
- In smoke, stay in; filter air.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Plattsville’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Plattsville without grading them.
- 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 Plattsville until then.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Plattsville’s figure is its subdivision’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Plattsville
Is radon a problem in Plattsville?
The area’s survey found 12% of 104 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Plattsville.
How big is the earthquake risk in Plattsville?
Expected earthquake damage in Plattsville comes to $0.022 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is Plattsville at risk of wildfire?
The burned-area record shows next to nothing around Plattsville (0% within 25 km since 1986), so its band is low.
How is Plattsville’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Plattsville C+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Does Plattsville flood?
A flood study covers Plattsville on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
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).