Photo: Mikerussell · CC BY-SA 3.0Flood mapping exists for Humbermede: 1 on record, latest by Toronto Regional Conservation Authority
Around Humbermede, wildfire is practically absent from the record: 0% within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. Shaking is about as much of a worry in Humbermede as in most places, at $0.043 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). 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 Humbermede a grade of A−, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Humbermede’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Humbermede: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Humbermede faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Humbermede grades A− for hazard risk
The grade weighs Humbermede’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
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.
Wildfire is rare near Humbermede: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Humbermede’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Humbermede burns at 0.000% a year, low against 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
With 0.5% forest fuel within 5 km and 1.8% within 25 km, the land around Humbermede gives a fire little to burn.
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
Fire has taken almost none of the land around Humbermede, as for 638 of the 871 towns in Ontario; Sioux Lookout tops the list 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 Humbermede, 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.
Humbermede is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Toronto Regional Conservation Authority
Flood studies whose area touches Humbermede, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
One study on the inventory touches Humbermede, Toronto Regional Conservation Authority’s from 2021, and its area can be large, so it says a map exists, not that the town floods.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Toronto Floodline Consolidation | Toronto Regional Conservation Authority | 2021 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
69% of towns in Ontario have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Humbermede has one too.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Nothing here counts toward Risk; the studies are pointers to the maps their owners keep for Humbermede.
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.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Humbermede $0.043 per $1,000 a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Humbermede’s $0.043 is close to the typical town’s $0.030 (1.4 times as much).
For earthquake risk, the only official count covers all of the city of Toronto, Humbermede included.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The median in Ontario is $0.043; Humbermede, at $0.043, is right beside it, and Alexandria tops the list 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.
Humbermede’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).
The model counts damage to Humbermede’s buildings and their occupants from shaking only: not liquefaction, landslides, tsunami or fires after a quake.
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 Humbermede: 2.7% of area homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Radon runs below the typical Canadian town (6.6%) in Humbermede’s area, at 2.7%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs lower around Humbermede than in most towns in Ontario: 2.7% against 4%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Humbermede 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.
The share describes the area, not a house: in Humbermede as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests published for the City of Toronto Health Unit, not by town
Weather and fire alerts for Humbermede
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Humbermede; 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 Humbermede come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Humbermede’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Humbermede | Low | $0.043 | 2.7% | Yes |
| Humber Summit 12,194 · 1.9 km | Low | $0.043 | 2.7% | Yes |
| Thistletown-Beaumond Heights 9,357 · 2.1 km | Low | $0.043 | 2.7% | Yes |
| Glenfield-Jane Heights 30,197 · 2.7 km | Low | $0.043 | 2.7% | Yes |
| Elms-Old Rexdale 9,366 · 2.8 km | Low | $0.043 | 2.7% | Yes |
| Black Creek 21,307 · 2.9 km | Low | $0.043 | 2.7% | Yes |
| Pelmo Park-Humberlea 11,396 · 2.9 km | Low | $0.043 | 2.7% | Yes |
Among its neighbours Humbermede has the most fire on record (low); Humber Summit follows (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Humbermede faces
What to do about the hazards Humbermede 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
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Humbermede without grading them.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Shaking damage is modelled from the ground, the buildings and the odds of each quake, and published for whole subdivisions such as Humbermede’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 Humbermede until then.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Humbermede’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Humbermede
Does Humbermede flood?
A flood study covers Humbermede 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 Humbermede?
Around Humbermede, 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 Humbermede at risk of wildfire?
Hardly at all on record: 0% of the land within 25 km of Humbermede since 1986, a low band, though small grass fires aren’t mapped.
How is Humbermede’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Humbermede grades A− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Humbermede?
About $0.043 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Humbermede.
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).