Photo: SimonP · CC BY-SA 3.0Cliffcrest is on Canada’s flood inventory: 1 listed, led by Toronto Regional Conservation Authority
Around Cliffcrest, wildfire is practically absent from the record: 0% within 25 km since 1986, 0.001% a year. NRCan expects $0.043 of shaking damage a year per $1,000 of buildings in Cliffcrest, near the typical $0.030. Radon is lower than usual: 2.7% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Cliffcrest a grade of A−; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Cliffcrest’s hazards
For Cliffcrest, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Cliffcrest faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Cliffcrest grades A− for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Cliffcrest with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
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 Cliffcrest has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Cliffcrest’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
With 0.001% burned a year, Cliffcrest is among the many low-band places (the typical Canadian town 0.000%).
Nothing inside 5 km of Cliffcrest’s homes has burned since 1986, and the nearest scar is 16 km off.
Land that isn’t forest covers nearly all the ground around Cliffcrest: forest fuel is 0.3% within 5 km and 2.8% 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
Sioux Lookout burns fastest in Ontario at 0.16% a year; Cliffcrest, at 0.001%, ranks 83rd of 871.
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 Cliffcrest 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.
Toronto Regional Conservation Authority has mapped flooding for Cliffcrest (1 study)
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Cliffcrest: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
A 2021 study by Toronto Regional Conservation Authority covers Cliffcrest, and its map, not the inventory, shows the zones.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Toronto Floodline Consolidation | Toronto Regional Conservation Authority | 2021 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Cliffcrest 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 is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Cliffcrest’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.
Ordinary seismic risk in Cliffcrest: $0.043 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Earthquake losses in Cliffcrest, $0.043 per $1,000, are in line with the typical $0.030 (1.4 times).
Cliffcrest doesn’t get its own earthquake risk figures; the ones here come from the city of Toronto.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Cliffcrest’s $0.043 is close to the median 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.
Cliffcrest 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).
For Cliffcrest 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).
Little radon around Cliffcrest: 2.7% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
A lower share than most: 2.7% of tested homes around Cliffcrest, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Cliffcrest’s area, at 2.7%, is below the median in Ontario (4%).
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Cliffcrest is in the lowest band, with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns: under 5% of tests over the guideline, while 63% have 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.
A low area share in Cliffcrest doesn’t clear a house, nor does a high one condemn it: test.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests: one figure for all of the City of Toronto Health Unit
Where to get warnings in Cliffcrest
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Cliffcrest; 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 Cliffcrest, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Cliffcrest
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cliffcrest | Low | $0.043 | 2.7% | Yes |
| Kennedy Park 17,156 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.043 | 2.7% | Yes |
| Eglinton East 22,820 · 2.0 km | Low | $0.043 | 2.7% | Yes |
| Scarborough Village 16,774 · 2.7 km | Low | $0.043 | 2.7% | Yes |
| Ionview 13,382 · 3.0 km | Low | $0.043 | 2.7% | Yes |
| Bendale South 10,885 · 3.1 km | Low | $0.043 | 2.7% | Yes |
| Clairlea-Birchmount 27,690 · 3.3 km | Low | $0.043 | 2.7% | Yes |
Nowhere around Cliffcrest burns more: Kennedy Park, the closest rival, is low to its low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Cliffcrest faces
What to do about the hazards Cliffcrest 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
- Wildfire counts one way. Burned land within 25 km of where people live, averaged over 1986–2025 and checked for fuel near homes, is the measure; it looks back, not ahead, and only ever counts against Cliffcrest.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Cliffcrest’s included.
- 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 Cliffcrest 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 Cliffcrest floods.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Cliffcrest
Is radon a problem in Cliffcrest?
Around Cliffcrest, 74 survey homes were tested and 2.7% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Is Cliffcrest at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Cliffcrest since 1986 (last in 2001); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Cliffcrest?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Cliffcrest’s buildings lose $0.043 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Does Cliffcrest flood?
Cliffcrest’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 is Cliffcrest’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Cliffcrest A−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
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).