Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 4.0South Frontenac is on Canada’s flood inventory: 1 listed, led by Quinte Conservation
For South Frontenac, wildfire history is close to nil: 0% of nearby land since 1986, 0.000% a year. Seismic risk in South Frontenac sits near the middle: $0.046 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. More homes than usual carry radon here, 11% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. South Frontenac grades C for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about South Frontenac’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for South Frontenac: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What South Frontenac faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in South Frontenac: C
For South Frontenac, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
Its place: #841 of 866 in Ontario and #2,087 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.
Few fires near South Frontenac: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where South Frontenac’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Around South Frontenac fire takes 0.000% of the land in a typical year, the typical Canadian town 0.000%, which is low.
7.4% of the land within 25 km of South Frontenac is forest fuel, yet only 4.5% within 5 km of its homes.
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
Little or nothing burns around South Frontenac in a typical year; 638 of the 871 towns in Ontario share that, and Sioux Lookout leads 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.
Most of the country’s 2,610 towns are low-band (92%, against 7.5% above); around South Frontenac, burning 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.
South Frontenac is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Quinte Conservation
Flood studies whose area touches South Frontenac, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
One study on the inventory touches South Frontenac, Quinte Conservation’s from 2024, and its area can be large, so it says a map exists, not that the town floods.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Upper Napanee River Lakes – Regulatory Floodplain Mapping | Quinte Conservation | 2024 | under review |
Towns with a flood study on file
69% of towns in Ontario have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; South Frontenac has one too.
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 South Frontenac’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 South Frontenac $0.046 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.
Earthquake losses in South Frontenac, $0.046 per $1,000, are in line with the typical $0.030 (1.5 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
About level with the typical town in Ontario: South Frontenac’s $0.046 against $0.043; Alexandria reaches $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.
More earthquake risk than most: only 31% of Canada’s 2,611 towns are above South Frontenac.
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 South Frontenac’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).
11% of homes tested around South Frontenac are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Measured across the Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox and Addington Health Unit: radon tests
Radon runs above the typical Canadian town (6.6%) in South Frontenac’s area, at 11%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around South Frontenac, 11% of tests were over 200 Bq/m³ and 1% 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.
South Frontenac is in the 10–20% band, with 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; only 4.6% are 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.
Basements, soil and how a house is sealed decide its radon, so in South Frontenac only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for South Frontenac
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for South Frontenac; 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 South Frontenac, 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)
Get ready for what South Frontenac faces
Practical steps for South Frontenac’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. Radon figures pool the survey’s home tests by area: postal areas once their boundaries arrive, the 2007 health region around South Frontenac until then.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for South Frontenac without grading them.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of South Frontenac’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- 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 South Frontenac’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in South Frontenac
How big is the earthquake risk in South Frontenac?
About $0.046 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for South Frontenac.
Does South Frontenac flood?
A flood study covers South Frontenac on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
Is radon a problem in South Frontenac?
11% of the 99 homes Health Canada tested around South Frontenac topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
Is South Frontenac at risk of wildfire?
Hardly at all on record: 0% of the land within 25 km of South Frontenac since 1986, a low band, though small grass fires aren’t mapped.
How is South Frontenac’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives South Frontenac C, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
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).