Photo: WabbitWanderer from London, Canada · CC BY-SA 2.0Hazard risk in Sault Ste. Marie is lower than in 88% of Canadian towns
Burn scars are few around Sault Ste. Marie, with 0.5% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.01% a year). Seismic risk runs low: $0.004 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Sault Ste. Marie’s survey area, 8.6% over the radon guideline, is close to the typical town’s 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Sault Ste. Marie a grade of A; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Sault Ste. Marie’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Sault Ste. Marie: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Sault Ste. Marie faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Sault Ste. Marie: A
Two inputs always count for Sault Ste. Marie, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
Its place: #162 of 866 in Ontario and #478 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Little of the land around Sault Ste. Marie has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0.5% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Sault Ste. Marie’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
With 0.01% burned a year, Sault Ste. Marie is among the many low-band places (the typical Canadian town 0.000%).
The 5 km ring around Sault Ste. Marie’s homes is clear of burns since 1986, the nearest 20 km out.
Near or far, forest fuel covers a similar share around Sault Ste. Marie: 11% within 5 km and 11% 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
At 0.01% a year, Sault Ste. Marie is near the top in Ontario: 22nd 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 Sault Ste. Marie, 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.
No flood study is listed for Sault Ste. Marie
Flood studies whose area touches Sault Ste. Marie, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Nationally, Sault Ste. Marie has no listed flood study; the municipality is the place to ask.
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are common in Ontario, 69% of towns against 58% nationally, but none in the inventory touches Sault Ste. Marie.
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 Sault Ste. Marie’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 Sault Ste. Marie: $0.004 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.
0.1 times the typical $0.030: Sault Ste. Marie’s $0.004 is low for Canada.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in Ontario peaks in Alexandria ($0.21); Sault Ste. Marie, at $0.004, is below the median of $0.043.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Sault Ste. Marie is among Canada’s quietest towns for earthquakes: 98% of the 2,611 expect more damage.
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 loss is to Sault Ste. Marie’s buildings alone, from ground shaking; infrastructure and secondary hazards are left out.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Radon about average around Sault Ste. Marie: 8.6% over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Source area for radon tests: the The District of Algoma Health Unit
8.6% of tested homes around Sault Ste. Marie were over the guideline, much like the typical Canadian town at 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Sault Ste. Marie than in most towns in Ontario: 8.6% over the guideline (4% is typical), 1.1% over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Sault Ste. Marie is in the 5–10% band with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% have more.
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 Sault Ste. Marie; 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 Sault Ste. Marie
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Sault Ste. Marie; 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 Sault Ste. Marie, 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 Sault Ste. Marie’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sault Ste. Marie | Low | $0.004 | 8.6% | None listed |
| Garden River 14 1,205 · 14 km | Low | $0.004 | 8.6% | None listed |
| Prince 1,113 · 14 km | Low | $0.004 | 8.6% | None listed |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Sault Ste. Marie (low); Garden River 14 comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Sault Ste. Marie faces
What to do about the hazards Sault Ste. Marie 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
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Sault Ste. Marie’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Sault Ste. Marie’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. NRCan’s inventory says where flood mapping exists, not where water goes; the map’s owner is the authority for Sault Ste. Marie.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Sault Ste. Marie is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Sault Ste. Marie
How big is the earthquake risk in Sault Ste. Marie?
About $0.004 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Sault Ste. Marie.
Is Sault Ste. Marie at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0.5% of the land around Sault Ste. Marie since 1986 (last in 2011); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
Does Sault Ste. Marie flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Sault Ste. Marie’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
How is Sault Ste. Marie’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Sault Ste. Marie’s Hazard risk grade is A, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is radon a problem in Sault Ste. Marie?
Around Sault Ste. Marie, 93 survey homes were tested and 8.6% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
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).