Photo: Sikander Iqbal · CC BY-SA 4.0Avondale is on Canada’s flood inventory: 1 listed, led by Toronto Regional Conservation Authority
For Avondale, wildfire history is close to nil: 0% of nearby land since 1986, 0.001% a year. Shaking is about as much of a worry in Avondale as in most places, at $0.043 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). In Health Canada’s survey, just 2.7% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Avondale grades A− for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Avondale’s hazards
For Avondale, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Avondale faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Avondale grades A− for hazard risk
For Avondale, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
Its place: #285 of 866 in Ontario and #700 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Only 74 homes were tested in the survey area, so the radon share is rough. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Little of the land around Avondale has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Avondale’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Avondale burns at 0.001% a year, low against 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
The closest burn since 1986 lies 23 km from Avondale’s homes, none within 5 km.
Only 2.2% of the land within 25 km of Avondale is forest fuel, and 0.2% 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
At 0.001% a year, Avondale is near the top in Ontario: 83rd 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 Avondale 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.
Avondale is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Toronto Regional Conservation Authority
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Avondale: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Toronto Regional Conservation Authority holds the flood mapping that covers Avondale (2021), linked below.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Toronto Floodline Consolidation | Toronto Regional Conservation Authority | 2021 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Avondale is one of the 69% of towns in Ontario with a flood study on file; across Canada it is 58%.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood mapping is shown for Avondale to be opened and checked, never turned into a grade.
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 Avondale: $0.043 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Nothing unusual about Avondale’s ground: $0.043 against a typical $0.030, 1.4 times.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Neither high nor low in Ontario: Avondale’s $0.043 sits by the median of $0.043, while Alexandria reaches $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.
Avondale sits mid-range among Canada’s 2,611 towns: 36% expect more shaking damage.
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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in Avondale is counted; landslides, liquefaction, tsunami and fire after a quake aren’t.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean). · Area behind the earthquake risk figures: the city of Toronto
Radon runs low around Avondale: 2.7% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Radon runs below the typical Canadian town (6.6%) in Avondale’s area, at 2.7%. Avondale doesn’t get its own radon tests figures; the ones here come from the City of Toronto Health Unit.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Fewer homes top the guideline around Avondale (2.7%) than in the typical town in Ontario (4%).
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Few tests over the guideline: Avondale shares the bottom band with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, below the other 63%.
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 Avondale, 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 Avondale
Alerts for Avondale 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. |
Evacuation orders for Avondale come from the municipality or the province, while CWFIS maps fire danger every day.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Avondale’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avondale | Low | $0.043 | 2.7% | Yes |
| Yonge-Doris 20,298 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.043 | 2.7% | None listed |
| Lansing-Westgate 15,980 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.043 | 2.7% | Yes |
| East Willowdale 15,514 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.043 | 2.7% | Yes |
| St.Andrew-Windfields 17,005 · 1.4 km | Low | $0.043 | 2.7% | Yes |
| Willowdale West 17,210 · 2.0 km | Low | $0.043 | 2.7% | Yes |
| Bayview Village 22,617 · 2.3 km | Low | $0.043 | 2.7% | Yes |
Yonge-Doris (low) has the heaviest fire record of Avondale’s neighbours, and Avondale (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Avondale faces
Practical steps for Avondale’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. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Avondale without grading them.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Avondale, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- 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 Avondale until then.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Avondale’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
Questions about flooding and hazards in Avondale
Does Avondale flood?
A flood study covers Avondale on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
Is radon a problem in Avondale?
2.7% of the 74 homes Health Canada tested around Avondale topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How big is the earthquake risk in Avondale?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Avondale’s buildings lose $0.043 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
How is Avondale’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Avondale grades A− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is Avondale at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Avondale’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2001), so wildfire doesn’t change its 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).