Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0A flood study covers Tecumseh: 2 on the national inventory, the newest from Essex Region Conservation Authority / County of Essex
Wildfire is rare near Tecumseh: 0.1% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, a burn rate of 0.004% a year. Seismic risk in Tecumseh sits near the middle: $0.019 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. In Health Canada’s survey, 14% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Tecumseh grades C+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Tecumseh’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Tecumseh: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Tecumseh faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Tecumseh grades C+ for hazard risk
For Tecumseh, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
Its place: #697 of 866 in Ontario and #1,885 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 Tecumseh: 0% within 5 km, 0.1% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Tecumseh’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Fire claims 0.004% of the land around Tecumseh each year, a low band, with the typical Canadian town at 0.000%.
The 5 km ring around Tecumseh’s homes is clear of burns since 1986, the nearest 9.7 km out.
Around Tecumseh the forest is thin or far off: 0.1% of the land within 5 km and 0.3% within 25 km is forest fuel.
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
At 0.004% a year, Tecumseh is near the top in Ontario: 45th of 871, behind Sioux Lookout (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.
Low, like 92% of the country’s 2,610 towns: the land around Tecumseh burns, but slower than in the 7.5% 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.
2 flood studies cover Tecumseh, the newest from Essex Region Conservation Authority / County of Essex
Flood studies whose area touches Tecumseh, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
The newest of 2 studies covering Tecumseh is Essex Region Conservation Authority / County of Essex’s, from 2024; open its map to see the zones.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essex Region | Essex Region Conservation Authority / County of Essex | 2024 | final |
| Little River Watershed Floodplain Mapping | City of Windsor | 2020 | final · not public |
Towns with a flood study on file
69% of towns in Ontario have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Tecumseh has one too.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Tecumseh.
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.
Ordinary seismic risk in Tecumseh: $0.019 per $1,000 of buildings a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
At $0.019 per $1,000, Tecumseh’s earthquake risk is about the typical Canadian town’s ($0.030; 0.6 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Ontario expects $0.043 a year in shaking damage; Tecumseh expects less, $0.019, 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.
Toward the quiet end of Canada’s range: 66% of its 2,611 towns sit above Tecumseh.
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 Tecumseh’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).
Radon runs high around Tecumseh: 14% of tested homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Tecumseh’s survey area reads 14% over the guideline, well past the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. Figures for radon tests are published for the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit as a whole, not for Tecumseh alone.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Tecumseh’s area, at 14%, 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.
The 10–20% band holds 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, Tecumseh among them; 4.6% rank 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.
Basements, soil and how a house is sealed decide its radon, so in Tecumseh only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Tecumseh
Alerts for Tecumseh 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 Tecumseh to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Tecumseh’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tecumseh | Low | $0.019 | 14% | Yes |
| East Riverside 15,758 · 3.5 km | Low | $0.019 | 14% | Yes |
| Forest Glade 21,328 · 3.6 km | Low | $0.019 | 14% | Yes |
| Riverside 21,828 · 6.1 km | Low | $0.019 | 14% | Yes |
| Fontainebleau 11,567 · 6.8 km | Low | $0.019 | 14% | Yes |
| East Windsor 20,876 · 8.2 km | Low | $0.019 | 14% | Yes |
| Devonshire 9,852 · 9.5 km | Low | $0.019 | 14% | Yes |
The fire record around Riverside is a touch heavier than Tecumseh’s, but the band is the same: low (here low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Tecumseh faces
Practical steps for Tecumseh’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
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. A study’s area can be a whole watershed or province, so being on the inventory says a map exists, not that a home in Tecumseh floods.
- Radon is a survey. The radon share comes from about 14,000 long-term home tests in 2009–2011, pooled for now by the 2007 health region Tecumseh sits in.
- 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 Tecumseh’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Tecumseh’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Tecumseh
Is Tecumseh at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Tecumseh’s low band (0.1% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2010) is short of the level that counts.
Is radon a problem in Tecumseh?
The area’s survey found 14% of 195 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Tecumseh.
Does Tecumseh flood?
Tecumseh’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
How big is the earthquake risk in Tecumseh?
Expected earthquake damage in Tecumseh comes to $0.019 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
How is Tecumseh’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Tecumseh grades C+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the 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).