Photo: JFVoll · CC BY-SA 3.0Flood mapping exists for Tavistock: 1 on record, latest by Grand River Conservation Authority
Fire has left almost no mark near Tavistock: 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. Shaking is about as much of a worry in Tavistock as in most places, at $0.020 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). In Health Canada’s survey, 12% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Tavistock grades B− for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Tavistock’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Tavistock: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Tavistock faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Tavistock: B−
The grade weighs Tavistock’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: #662 of 866 in Ontario and #1,649 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 Tavistock: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Tavistock’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
With 0.000% burned a year, Tavistock is among the many low-band places (the typical Canadian town 0.000%).
Only 1.2% of the land within 25 km of Tavistock is forest fuel, and 0.8% close in.
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 Tavistock, 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.
Like most of Canada’s 2,610 towns (92%), Tavistock 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 Tavistock, from Grand River Conservation Authority: 1 on the inventory
Flood studies whose area touches Tavistock, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
A 2018 study by Grand River Conservation Authority covers Tavistock, and its map, not the inventory, shows the zones.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grand River Regulatory Floodplain | Grand River Conservation Authority | 2018 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Its flood study puts Tavistock with 69% of towns in Ontario; Canada’s share is 58%.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Tavistock’s homes stand in a flood zone.
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.
Expected shaking damage in Tavistock: $0.020 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.
At $0.020 per $1,000, Tavistock’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
Earthquake risk in Ontario peaks in Alexandria ($0.21); Tavistock, at $0.020, is below the median of $0.043.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Neither high nor low for Canada: 64% of the 2,611 towns expect more damage than Tavistock.
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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Tavistock’s figure, nor landslides or tsunami: it is buildings and shaking.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Test for radon in Tavistock: 12% of area homes were over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Radon runs above the typical Canadian town (6.6%) in Tavistock’s area, at 12%. Tavistock shares its radon tests numbers with the rest of the Oxford County Health Unit.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Tavistock’s area, at 12%, is above the median in Ontario (4%), and 1% 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.
4.6% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have a higher share of homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Tavistock, in the 10–20% band with 22%.
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 Tavistock only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Tavistock
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Tavistock; 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 Tavistock, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Tavistock
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tavistock | Low | $0.020 | 12% | Yes |
| Woodstock 55,572 · 12 km | Low | $0.019 | 12% | Yes |
| Thamesford 9,755 · 17 km | Low | $0.019 | 12% | None listed |
Woodstock (low) has the heaviest fire record of Tavistock’s neighbours, and Tavistock (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Tavistock faces
What to do about the hazards Tavistock 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
- 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 Tavistock’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Tavistock’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. NRCan’s inventory says where flood mapping exists, not where water goes; the map’s owner is the authority for Tavistock.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Tavistock is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Tavistock
How is Tavistock’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Tavistock’s Hazard risk grade is B−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Does Tavistock flood?
There is flood mapping for Tavistock on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
Is radon a problem in Tavistock?
In Health Canada’s survey, 12% of 104 homes tested in Tavistock’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
How big is the earthquake risk in Tavistock?
About $0.020 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Tavistock.
Is Tavistock at risk of wildfire?
The burned-area record shows next to nothing around Tavistock (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).