Photo: Joe Mabel (on Flickr as Joe Mabel from Seattle, US) · CC BY-SA 3.0Hazard risk in Stayner is lower than in 98% of Canadian towns
Around Stayner, wildfire is practically absent from the record: 0% within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. Seismic risk runs low: $0.015 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Fewer homes than usual carry radon here, 0.9% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Stayner a grade of A+; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Stayner’s hazards
For Stayner, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Stayner faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Stayner grades A+ for hazard risk
The grade weighs Stayner’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
Its place: #6 of 866 in Ontario and #216 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 Stayner: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Stayner’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
The land within 25 km of Stayner burns at 0.000% a year on average, the low band; the typical Canadian town: 0.000%.
Near or far, forest fuel covers a similar share around Stayner: 13% within 5 km and 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); Stayner 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.
Like most of Canada’s 2,610 towns (92%), Stayner is in the low band, with a burn rate of zero to three decimals; 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.
A flood study covers Stayner, from Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority: 1 on the inventory
Flood studies whose area touches Stayner, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
A 2024 study by Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority covers Stayner, and its map, not the inventory, shows the zones.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Upper Mad River Flood Hazard Study | Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority | 2024 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Stayner is one of the 69% of towns in Ontario with a flood study on file; across Canada it is 58%.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Nothing here counts toward Risk; the studies are pointers to the maps their owners keep for Stayner.
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.
Little shaking expected in Stayner: $0.015 a year per $1,000
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
0.5 times the typical $0.030: Stayner’s $0.015 is low for Canada.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Ontario expects $0.043 a year in shaking damage; Stayner expects less, $0.015, 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.
Earthquakes cost less around Stayner than in 72% of Canada’s 2,611 towns.
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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in Stayner is counted; landslides, liquefaction, tsunami and fire after a quake aren’t.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
0.9% of homes tested around Stayner are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Stayner’s area, at 0.9%, is below the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town, though any one home can still be high.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Fewer homes top the guideline around Stayner (0.9%) than in the typical town in Ontario (4%).
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Stayner is in the lowest band, with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns: under 5% of tests over the guideline, while 63% 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.
Health Canada advises testing every home, Stayner’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests: the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit
Where to get warnings in Stayner
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Stayner; 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. |
In fire season, check CWFIS for danger and active fires around Stayner, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Stayner’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stayner | Low | $0.015 | 0.9% | Yes |
| Wasaga Beach 28,736 · 10 km | Low | $0.020 | 0.9% | None listed |
| Collingwood 28,366 · 13 km | Low | $0.016 | 0.9% | None listed |
Fire is no heavier anywhere nearby than around Stayner (low), with Wasaga Beach next at low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Stayner faces
What to do about the hazards Stayner 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?
- 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 Stayner.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Stayner’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Wildfire counts one way. For Stayner, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Stayner takes its 2007 health region’s share.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Stayner
Does Stayner flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Stayner; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Stayner?
About $0.015 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Stayner.
How is Stayner’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Stayner grades A+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is Stayner at risk of wildfire?
No meaningful wildfire history near Stayner: 0% of nearby land since 1986, band low.
Is radon a problem in Stayner?
Around Stayner, 109 survey homes were tested and 0.9% 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).