Photo: Laslovarga · CC BY-SA 4.0A flood study covers Puslinch: 2 on the national inventory, the newest from Conservation Halton
The national fire record shows next to nothing around Puslinch, 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). Shaking is about as much of a worry in Puslinch as in most places, at $0.026 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Radon is higher than usual: 11% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Puslinch a grade of C+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Puslinch’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Puslinch: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Puslinch faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Puslinch: C+
The grade weighs Puslinch’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: #676 of 866 in Ontario and #1,815 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 Puslinch has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Puslinch’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Low: the land around Puslinch burns at 0.000% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
More forest grows near Puslinch’s homes (18% within 5 km) than across 25 km (7.2%).
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 Puslinch, 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.
Measured against 2,610 towns, Puslinch is in the largest group, low (92%), and at its floor, while 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.
2 flood studies cover Puslinch, the newest from Conservation Halton
Flood studies whose area touches Puslinch, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Conservation Halton and others have studied flooding in areas that include Puslinch: 2 studies, the latest from 2020.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Halton Shoreline Flood Hazard | Conservation Halton | 2020 | final · not public |
| Grand River Regulatory Floodplain | Grand River Conservation Authority | 2018 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Ontario reaches 69% of towns, Puslinch 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 around Puslinch has come in steps: 2 studies from the 2010s to the 2020s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Puslinch.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Puslinch’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 Puslinch $0.026 per $1,000 a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
With $0.026 of shaking damage a year per $1,000, Puslinch is about even with the typical $0.030 (0.9 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Puslinch’s $0.026 sits under the median in Ontario, $0.043, and well under Alexandria’s $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.
Puslinch’s earthquake risk lands near the centre of Canada’s range; 53% 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 Puslinch’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).
Test for radon in Puslinch: 11% of area homes were over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Radon runs above the typical Canadian town (6.6%) in Puslinch’s area, at 11%. Puslinch doesn’t get its own radon tests figures; the ones here come from the Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Health Unit.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Puslinch than in most towns in Ontario: 11% over the guideline (4% is typical), 2% over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
More high tests than most: Puslinch 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.
One home in Puslinch 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 Puslinch
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Puslinch; 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 Puslinch 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 Puslinch
The same four hazards for the places next door.
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Puslinch (low); Guelph comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Puslinch faces
What to do about the hazards Puslinch 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?
- 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 Puslinch’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- 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 Puslinch until then.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Puslinch without grading them.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Puslinch’s figure is its subdivision’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Puslinch
Does Puslinch flood?
A flood study covers Puslinch on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
How is Puslinch’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Puslinch’s Hazard risk grade is C+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
How big is the earthquake risk in Puslinch?
About $0.026 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Puslinch.
Is radon a problem in Puslinch?
In Health Canada’s survey, 11% of 99 homes tested in Puslinch’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Is Puslinch at risk of wildfire?
Very little by the national record: Puslinch’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, so wildfire doesn’t change its 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).