Photo: Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0A flood study covers Quinte West: 4 on the national inventory, the newest from Lower Trent Conservation
Wildfire barely registers for Quinte West, at 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). Shaking is about as much of a worry in Quinte West as in most places, at $0.034 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). More homes than usual carry radon here, 12% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Quinte West grades C+ for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Quinte West’s hazards
For Quinte West, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Quinte West faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Quinte West grades C+ for hazard risk
Seismic risk and radon set Quinte West’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
Its place: #821 of 866 in Ontario and #2,046 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Few fires near Quinte West: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Quinte West’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Low: the land around Quinte West burns at 0.000% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
There is forest near Quinte West’s homes (7.5% within 5 km) and more of it further out (13% 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
Sioux Lookout has the highest burn rate in Ontario, 0.16% a year; around Quinte West, as around 638 of the 871 towns, it rounds to zero.
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.
92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are in the low band and 7.5% above it; Quinte West is among the many where the yearly burn rate rounds to zero.
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.
4 flood studies cover Quinte West, the newest from Lower Trent Conservation
Flood studies whose area touches Quinte West, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
4 studies on the inventory touch Quinte West, the newest Lower Trent Conservation’s from 2024, and their areas can be large, so they say maps exist, not that the town floods.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mayhew Creek and Cold Creek | Lower Trent Conservation | 2024 | final |
| Rawdon Creek Floodplain Mapping Update | Lower Trent Conservation | 2024 | final |
| Lower Trent River | Lower Trent Region Conservation Authority | 2024 | final |
| Lake Ontario Shoreline Management Plan | Ganaraska Region Conservation Authority | 2020 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
69% of towns in Ontario have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Quinte West has one too.
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 Quinte West.
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 Quinte West $0.034 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.
At $0.034 per $1,000, Quinte West’s earthquake risk is about the typical Canadian town’s ($0.030; 1.1 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Ontario expects $0.043 a year in shaking damage; Quinte West expects less, $0.034, 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.
Middle of the pack: 46% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have more earthquake risk than Quinte West.
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).
What a quake does after the shaking, fire, landslides, tsunami, falls outside NRCan’s figure for Quinte West.
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 Quinte West: 12% 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 tests for the Hastings and Prince Edward Counties Health Unit
Quinte West’s area, at 12%, is above the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town, so testing is worth more here than most places.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Quinte West than in most towns in Ontario: 12% 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: Quinte West 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.
A low area share in Quinte West 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 Quinte West
Alerts for Quinte West 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 Quinte West 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 Quinte West
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quinte West | Low | $0.034 | 12% | Yes |
| Belleville 62,914 · 16 km | Low | $0.045 | 12% | None listed |
| Brighton 12,900 · 17 km | Low | $0.028 | 6.1% | Yes |
Quinte West’s low band tops its neighbours; Belleville is next (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Quinte West faces
Practical steps for Quinte West’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
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Quinte West takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- 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 Quinte West.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Quinte West’s included.
- 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 Quinte West.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Quinte West
How is Quinte West’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Quinte West grades C+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Quinte West?
About $0.034 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Quinte West.
Does Quinte West flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Quinte West; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
Is Quinte West at risk of wildfire?
The burned-area record shows next to nothing around Quinte West (0% within 25 km since 1986), so its band is low.
Is radon a problem in Quinte West?
The area’s survey found 12% of 99 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Quinte West.
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).