Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0Flood mapping exists for Shuniah: 1 on record, latest by Lakehead Region Conservation Authority
Fire seldom reaches Shuniah: since 1986, 1% of the land within 25 km has burned (0.03% a year). Earthquakes matter little: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.003 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. More homes than usual carry radon here, 12% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Shuniah a grade of A−; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Shuniah’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Shuniah: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Shuniah faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Shuniah grades A− for hazard risk
For Shuniah, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
Its place: #277 of 866 in Ontario and #657 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 Shuniah has burned: 0% within 5 km, 1% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Shuniah’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Shuniah burns at 0.03% a year, low against 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Shuniah’s homes have had no fire within 5 km since 1986; the closest was 5.0 km away.
Forest thickens with distance from Shuniah: 38% of the land within 5 km, 62% 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
In the top quarter in Ontario: Shuniah ranks 13th of 871 at 0.03% a year, with Sioux Lookout first 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.
Shuniah is in the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns; 7.5% sit in moderate or 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.
Shuniah is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Lakehead Region Conservation Authority
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Shuniah: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
A 2014 study by Lakehead Region Conservation Authority covers Shuniah, and its map, not the inventory, shows the zones.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Northstar Creek | Lakehead Region Conservation Authority | 2014 | final · not public |
Towns with a flood study on file
Its flood study puts Shuniah with 69% of towns in Ontario; Canada’s share is 58%.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Shuniah’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 Shuniah just $0.003 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Shaking costs the typical town $0.030 a year; in Shuniah it is only $0.003, 0.1 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Below the middle in Ontario: Shuniah’s $0.003 against a median of $0.043; Alexandria has $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.
At the bottom of Canada’s range, Shuniah has 99% of the 2,611 towns above it.
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 model counts damage to Shuniah’s buildings and their occupants from shaking only: not liquefaction, landslides, tsunami or fires after a quake.
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 Shuniah are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
A higher share than most: 12% of tested homes around Shuniah, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Shuniah, 12% of tests were over 200 Bq/m³ and 0.9% 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.
The 10–20% band holds 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, Shuniah among them; 4.6% rank 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.
Basements, soil and how a house is sealed decide its radon, so in Shuniah only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests: the Thunder Bay District Health Unit
Weather and fire alerts for Shuniah
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Shuniah; 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 Shuniah come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Get ready for what Shuniah faces
Practical steps for Shuniah’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
- 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 Shuniah.
- 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 Shuniah’s.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Shuniah takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Shuniah’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 Shuniah
How is Shuniah’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Shuniah grades A− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Shuniah?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Shuniah’s buildings lose $0.003 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Does Shuniah flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Shuniah; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
Is radon a problem in Shuniah?
The area’s survey found 12% of 108 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Shuniah.
Is Shuniah at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Shuniah’s low band (1% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2007) is short of the level that counts.
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).