Sundridge faces fewer hazards than 95% of Canadian towns
Around Sundridge, 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, 1.9% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Sundridge grades A for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Sundridge’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Sundridge: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Sundridge faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Sundridge: A
Two inputs always count for Sundridge, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
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.
Little of the land around Sundridge has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Sundridge’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
At 0.000% of the land a year, Sundridge’s burn rate is in the low band; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Forest crowds in on Sundridge: 30% of the land within 5 km is forest fuel, more than the 22% 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 872
Fire has taken almost none of the land around Sundridge, as for 639 of the 872 towns in Ontario; Sioux Lookout tops the list 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.
The low band holds 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, and Sundridge sits at its very bottom; only 7.5% are above it.
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 Sundridge
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Sundridge: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
NRCan’s inventory is silent on Sundridge, so any flood map would be the municipality’s own.
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Ontario reaches 69% of towns, beside 58% across Canada, but not Sundridge.
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 Sundridge.
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.”
Little shaking expected in Sundridge: $0.015 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Sundridge’s $0.015 is a fraction of the typical town’s $0.030 (0.5 times as much): quiet ground by Canadian standards.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Sundridge’s $0.015 sits under the median in Ontario, $0.043, and well under Alexandria’s $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.
Most of Canada’s 2,611 towns (72%) face more earthquake damage than Sundridge.
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 Sundridge’s 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).
Little radon around Sundridge: 1.9% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Where the typical Canadian town has 6.6% of homes over the guideline, Sundridge’s area has fewer, 1.9%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs lower around Sundridge than in most towns in Ontario: 1.9% against 4%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Radon rarely tops the guideline around Sundridge, as for 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 63% see 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.
One home in Sundridge can be high while next door is low; a three-month test settles it.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Area behind the radon tests figures: the North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit
Weather and fire alerts for Sundridge
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Sundridge; 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 Sundridge, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Sundridge
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sundridge | Low | $0.015 | 1.9% | None listed |
| Strong 1,624 · 5.5 km | Low | $0.025 | 1.9% | None listed |
| South River 1,211 · 7.7 km | Low | $0.035 | 1.9% | None listed |
| Burk's Falls 1,031 · 17 km | Low | $0.023 | 1.9% | None listed |
| Magnetawan 1,888 · 19 km | Low | $0.025 | 1.9% | None listed |
Among its neighbours Sundridge has the most fire on record (low); Strong follows (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Sundridge faces
What to do about the hazards Sundridge 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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Sundridge’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Sundridge’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- 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 Sundridge until then.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Sundridge without grading them.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Sundridge
How big is the earthquake risk in Sundridge?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Sundridge $0.015 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is Sundridge at risk of wildfire?
Hardly at all on record: 0% of the land within 25 km of Sundridge since 1986, a low band, though small grass fires aren’t mapped.
Does Sundridge flood?
Nothing is listed for Sundridge on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
Is radon a problem in Sundridge?
In Health Canada’s survey, 1.9% of 103 homes tested in Sundridge’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
How is Sundridge’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Sundridge’s Hazard risk grade is A, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
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).