Photo: Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0Wildfire low, radon 12%: how Stratford stands on hazards
No wildfire is mapped within 25 km of Stratford’s homes since 1986 (0% of the land, 0.000% a year). Seismic risk in Stratford sits near the middle: $0.022 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Hazard risk gives Stratford a grade of C+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Stratford’s hazards
For Stratford, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Stratford faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Stratford: C+
Earthquake risk and radon make Stratford’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
Its place: #672 of 866 in Ontario and #1,790 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Little of the land around Stratford has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Stratford’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Forty years of fire maps put Stratford at 0.000% a year, low next to the typical Canadian town’s 0.000%.
Little near Stratford’s homes can carry a forest fire; only 0.5% of the land within 5 km is forest fuel, and 0.7% 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
Sioux Lookout has the highest burn rate in Ontario, 0.16% a year; around Stratford, as around 638 of the 871 towns, it rounds to 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.
Stratford shares the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, its burn rate rounding to nothing; 7.5% burn faster.
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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Stratford
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Stratford: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
No flood study on the national inventory covers Stratford; ask the municipality, which is the authority for its flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Missing from a well-mapped province: Stratford has no study, where 69% of towns in Ontario have one against 58% nationally.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood mapping is shown for Stratford to be opened and checked, never turned into a grade.
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.”
Expected shaking damage in Stratford: $0.022 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.022 per $1,000, Stratford’s earthquake risk is about the typical Canadian town’s ($0.030; 0.7 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.022, Stratford is below the typical town in Ontario ($0.043); Alexandria is highest at $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.
Around half of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Stratford (61%).
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).
What a quake does after the shaking, fire, landslides, tsunami, falls outside NRCan’s figure for Stratford.
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 Stratford are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Measured across the Perth District Health Unit: radon tests
the typical Canadian town has 6.6% over the guideline; Stratford’s area has 12%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Stratford, 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.
More high tests than most: Stratford sits in a band that only 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns share, with 4.6% 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.
Radon varies from house to house in Stratford, so the survey is a reason to test, not a result for yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Stratford
Alerts for Stratford 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 Stratford to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Stratford
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stratford | Low | $0.022 | 12% | None listed |
| Perth South 4,055 · 14 km | Low | $0.017 | 12% | None listed |
| Perth East 13,423 · 15 km | Low | $0.018 | 12% | Yes |
| St. Marys 8,203 · 18 km | Low | $0.017 | 12% | None listed |
Nowhere around Stratford burns more: Perth South, the closest rival, is low to its low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Stratford faces
Practical steps for Stratford’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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Wildfire counts one way. For Stratford, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Stratford’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- 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 Stratford until then.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Stratford without grading them.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Stratford
How big is the earthquake risk in Stratford?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Stratford $0.022 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is radon a problem in Stratford?
12% of the 108 homes Health Canada tested around Stratford topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How is Stratford’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Stratford’s Hazard risk grade is C+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Does Stratford flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Stratford (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
Is Stratford at risk of wildfire?
Very little by the national record: Stratford’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
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).