Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0On hazards, Smiths Falls comes out behind 92% of Canadian towns
The national fire record shows next to nothing around Smiths Falls, 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). Earthquakes add more: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.092 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. More homes than usual carry radon here, 19% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Smiths Falls a grade of D, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Smiths Falls’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Smiths Falls: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Smiths Falls faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Smiths Falls grades D for hazard risk
Earthquake risk and radon make Smiths Falls’ grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
Its place: #857 of 866 in Ontario and #2,492 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.
Wildfire is rare near Smiths Falls: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Smiths Falls’ residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
The land within 25 km of Smiths Falls burns at 0.000% a year on average, the low band; the typical Canadian town: 0.000%.
Forest thickens with distance from Smiths Falls: 6.5% of the land within 5 km, 16% 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
Among the 871 towns in Ontario, Sioux Lookout burns fastest (0.16% a year); Smiths Falls is with the 638 near 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.
Only 7.5% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are above the low band, which holds 92%; Smiths Falls, at a rounded zero, is far from them.
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.
5 flood studies cover Smiths Falls, the newest from Rideau Valley Conservation Authority
Flood studies whose area touches Smiths Falls, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
The newest of 5 studies covering Smiths Falls is Rideau Valley Conservation Authority’s, from 2016; open its map to see the zones.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Otter and Hutton Creeks | Rideau Valley Conservation Authority | 2016 | final |
| Rideau River, Poonamalie Dam to Smith Falls | Rideau Valley Conservation Authority | 2010 | final |
| Rideau River Tributaries, Smiths Falls to Kars | Rideau Valley Conservation Authority | 1983 | final |
| Rideau River Floodline Mapping, Smiths Falls to Poonamalie | Rideau Valley Conservation Authority | 1979 | final |
| Rideau River, Smiths Falls to Kars | Rideau Valley Conservation Authority | 1976 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
69% of towns in Ontario have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Smiths Falls has one too.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood mapping around Smiths Falls has come in steps: 5 studies from the 1970s to the 2010s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Smiths Falls.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Smiths Falls floods.
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 Smiths Falls $0.092 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.
Roughly 3.1 times the typical $0.030: Smiths Falls’ $0.092 marks real seismic exposure.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Ontario expects $0.043 a year; Smiths Falls expects $0.092, and Alexandria $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.
27% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Smiths Falls, which places it in the upper third.
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 Smiths Falls’ 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 runs high around Smiths Falls: 19% of tested homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Smiths Falls’ area, at 19%, is above the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town, so testing is worth more here than most places. Smiths Falls doesn’t get its own radon tests figures; the ones here come from the Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Smiths Falls’ area, at 19%, is above the median in Ontario (4%), and 1.9% of its tests passed 600 Bq/m³.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
One test in ten or more tops the guideline around Smiths Falls, as in 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 4.6% go higher.
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 share describes the area, not a house: in Smiths Falls as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Smiths Falls
Alerts for Smiths Falls 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. |
Alert Ready carries evacuation orders for Smiths Falls to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Smiths Falls’ neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smiths Falls | Low | $0.092 | 19% | Yes |
| Montague 4,414 · 6.9 km | Low | $0.10 | 19% | Yes |
| Merrickville 3,411 · 12 km | Low | $0.10 | 19% | Yes |
| Drummond/North Elmsley 8,817 · 16 km | Low | $0.088 | 19% | Yes |
| Perth 6,972 · 19 km | Low | $0.081 | 19% | Yes |
The fire record around Drummond/North Elmsley is a touch heavier than Smiths Falls’, but the band is the same: low (here low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Smiths Falls faces
Practical steps for Smiths Falls’ 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 Smiths Falls.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Smiths Falls takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- 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 Smiths Falls’.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Smiths Falls’ 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 Smiths Falls
How is Smiths Falls’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Smiths Falls D, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
How big is the earthquake risk in Smiths Falls?
Expected earthquake damage in Smiths Falls comes to $0.092 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Does Smiths Falls flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Smiths Falls; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
Is radon a problem in Smiths Falls?
The area’s survey found 19% of 108 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Smiths Falls.
Is Smiths Falls at risk of wildfire?
The burned-area record shows next to nothing around Smiths Falls (0% within 25 km since 1986), so its band is low.
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).