Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0Hazards in Thamesford: wildfire low, radon over the guideline in 12% of tested homes
Wildfire barely registers for Thamesford, at 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). Seismic risk in Thamesford sits near the middle: $0.019 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Thamesford grades B− for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Thamesford’s hazards
For Thamesford, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Thamesford faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Thamesford grades B− for hazard risk
For Thamesford, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
Its place: #659 of 866 in Ontario and #1,621 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 Thamesford has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Thamesford’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The yearly burn rate around Thamesford is 0.000%, low beside 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Little near Thamesford’s homes can carry a forest fire; only 1.1% of the land within 5 km is forest fuel, and 0.8% 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
Near-zero burning puts Thamesford with 638 of the 871 towns in Ontario, far below Sioux Lookout 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.
Thamesford 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 Thamesford
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Thamesford: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Nationally, Thamesford has no listed flood study; the municipality is the place to ask.
Towns with a flood study on file
Missing from a well-mapped province: Thamesford 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.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Thamesford’s homes are at risk.
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 Thamesford: $0.019 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Earthquake losses in Thamesford, $0.019 per $1,000, are in line with the typical $0.030 (0.6 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Thamesford’s $0.019 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.
Thamesford is in the lower part of Canada’s range for earthquake risk; 66% of the 2,611 towns are higher.
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 Thamesford.
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 Thamesford are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
A higher share than most: 12% of tested homes around Thamesford, the typical Canadian town 6.6%. For radon tests, the only official count covers all of the Oxford County Health Unit, Thamesford included.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Thamesford’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.
One test in ten or more tops the guideline around Thamesford, as in 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 4.6% go higher.
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 Thamesford, 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 Thamesford
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Thamesford; 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. |
Smoke and fire warnings for Thamesford come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Thamesford
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thamesford | Low | $0.019 | 12% | None listed |
| Ingersoll 14,911 · 13 km | Low | $0.021 | 12% | None listed |
| Dorchester 15,475 · 16 km | Low | $0.020 | 1.8% | None listed |
| Tavistock 8,710 · 17 km | Low | $0.020 | 12% | Yes |
| Woodstock 55,572 · 17 km | Low | $0.019 | 12% | Yes |
Among its neighbours Thamesford has the most fire on record (low); Ingersoll follows (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Thamesford faces
Practical steps for Thamesford’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
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Thamesford without grading them.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Thamesford’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 Thamesford until then.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Thamesford, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Thamesford
Is Thamesford at risk of wildfire?
Hardly at all on record: 0% of the land within 25 km of Thamesford since 1986, a low band, though small grass fires aren’t mapped.
How big is the earthquake risk in Thamesford?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Thamesford’s buildings lose $0.019 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is radon a problem in Thamesford?
The area’s survey found 12% of 104 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Thamesford.
How is Thamesford’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Thamesford B−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Does Thamesford flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Thamesford, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
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).