Photo: Raymond Leung from Toronto, Canada · CC BY 2.0Few places are as safe from hazards as The Archipelago: it beats 91% of Canadian towns
Fire has left almost no mark near The Archipelago: 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. For earthquakes The Archipelago is middling, $0.018 a year per $1,000 against $0.030 for the typical town. Radon is lower than usual: 1.9% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Hazard risk gives The Archipelago a grade of A, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about The Archipelago’s hazards
For The Archipelago, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What The Archipelago faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in The Archipelago: A
The grade weighs The Archipelago’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
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.
Few fires near The Archipelago: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Past fire around The Archipelago’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The land within 25 km of The Archipelago burns at 0.000% a year on average, the low band; the typical Canadian town: 0.000%.
The nearer ring around The Archipelago is less wooded (29% forest fuel) than the land out to 25 km (36%).
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
Little or nothing burns around The Archipelago in a typical year; 639 of the 872 towns in Ontario share that, and Sioux Lookout leads 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.
Most of the country’s 2,610 towns are low-band (92%, against 7.5% above); around The Archipelago, burning rounds to zero.
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 The Archipelago
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for The Archipelago: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
There is no study for The Archipelago on the national flood inventory, which is far from complete.
Towns with a flood study on file
Missing from a well-mapped province: The Archipelago 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 The Archipelago’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.”
Ordinary seismic risk in The Archipelago: $0.018 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
The Archipelago’s $0.018 is close to the typical town’s $0.030 (0.6 times as much).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.018, The Archipelago 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.
Most of Canada’s 2,611 towns (68%) face more earthquake damage than The Archipelago.
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).
For The Archipelago the model prices shaking damage to buildings, nothing more.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Radon runs low around The Archipelago: 1.9% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Radon tests for the North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit
Where the typical Canadian town has 6.6% of homes over the guideline, The Archipelago’s area has fewer, 1.9%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs lower around The Archipelago 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 The Archipelago, 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.
Whatever The Archipelago’s area share, the reading that matters is your own home’s, over a winter.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in The Archipelago
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for The Archipelago; 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 The Archipelago, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How The Archipelago’s neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Archipelago | Low | $0.018 | 1.9% | None listed |
| Parry Sound 7,584 · 5.8 km | Low | $0.016 | 1.9% | None listed |
| McDougall 3,002 · 17 km | Low | $0.020 | 1.9% | None listed |
| Carling 1,609 · 18 km | Low | $0.018 | 1.9% | None listed |
The Archipelago’s low band tops its neighbours; Parry Sound is next (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what The Archipelago faces
What to do about the hazards The Archipelago 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
- 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 The Archipelago sits in.
- 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 The Archipelago floods.
- Wildfire counts one way. For The Archipelago, 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 The Archipelago’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
Questions about flooding and hazards in The Archipelago
How is The Archipelago’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
The Archipelago grades A for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is radon a problem in The Archipelago?
In Health Canada’s survey, 1.9% of 103 homes tested in The Archipelago’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
How big is the earthquake risk in The Archipelago?
In NRCan’s seismic model, The Archipelago’s buildings lose $0.018 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is The Archipelago at risk of wildfire?
Hardly at all on record: 0% of the land within 25 km of The Archipelago since 1986, a low band, though small grass fires aren’t mapped.
Does The Archipelago flood?
Nothing is listed for The Archipelago on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
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).