Photo: OldYorkGuy · CC BY-SA 3.0Danforth faces few natural hazards: little fire nearby, low seismic risk, radon over the guideline in 2.7% of tested homes
Since 1986 almost nothing has burned near Danforth: 0% of the land within 25 km, or 0.001% a year. Shaking is about as much of a worry in Danforth as in most places, at $0.043 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Danforth grades A− for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Danforth’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Danforth: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Danforth faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Danforth grades A− for hazard risk
Seismic risk and radon set Danforth’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of 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. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Few fires near Danforth: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Danforth’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Around Danforth fire takes 0.001% of the land in a typical year, the typical Canadian town 0.000%, which is low.
The closest burn since 1986 lies 24 km from Danforth’s homes, none within 5 km.
Forest makes up 0.4% of the land within 5 km of Danforth and 1.1% within 25 km, little for a forest fire to run through.
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
In the top quarter in Ontario: Danforth ranks 83rd of 871 at 0.001% a year, with Sioux Lookout first 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.
Beside 2,610 Canadian towns, Danforth reads low, with 92% of them; only 7.5% rank higher.
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 Danforth
Flood studies whose area touches Danforth, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
No flood study on the national inventory covers Danforth; ask the municipality, which is the authority for its flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
69% of towns in Ontario have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Danforth is not yet one of them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Danforth floods.
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 Danforth: $0.043 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.
Earthquake losses in Danforth, $0.043 per $1,000, are in line with the typical $0.030 (1.4 times).
Behind earthquake risk sits data gathered across the city of Toronto, with Danforth one part of it.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Shaking damage around Danforth runs at $0.043 a year, near the $0.043 of the typical town in Ontario; Alexandria has $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.
Danforth’s earthquake risk lands near the centre of Canada’s range; 36% 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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Danforth’s figure, nor landslides or tsunami: it is buildings and shaking.
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 Danforth: 2.7% of tested homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Where the typical Canadian town has 6.6% of homes over the guideline, Danforth’s area has fewer, 2.7%. Figures for radon tests are published for the City of Toronto Health Unit as a whole, not for Danforth alone.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Fewer homes top the guideline around Danforth (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.
Under 5% puts Danforth with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 63% have more high tests.
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 Danforth only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Danforth
Alerts for Danforth 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 Danforth to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Danforth
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Danforth | Low | $0.043 | 2.7% | None listed |
| Danforth East York 17,073 · 0.4 km | Low | $0.043 | 2.7% | Yes |
| Old East York 9,175 · 1.2 km | Low | $0.043 | 2.7% | Yes |
| Blake-Jones 7,494 · 1.4 km | Low | $0.043 | 2.7% | None listed |
| Woodbine Corridor 12,283 · 1.4 km | Low | $0.043 | 2.7% | Yes |
| Greenwood-Coxwell 14,146 · 1.4 km | Low | $0.043 | 2.7% | Yes |
| Woodbine-Lumsden 7,928 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.043 | 2.7% | Yes |
Nowhere around Danforth burns more: Danforth East York, 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 Danforth faces
Practical steps for Danforth’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 Danforth without grading them.
- 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 Danforth until then.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Danforth’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Danforth’s figure is its subdivision’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Danforth
How is Danforth’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Danforth A−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is Danforth at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Danforth’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.
Is radon a problem in Danforth?
2.7% of the 74 homes Health Canada tested around Danforth topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How big is the earthquake risk in Danforth?
Expected earthquake damage in Danforth comes to $0.043 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Does Danforth flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Danforth (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask 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).