Photo: Canmenwalker · CC BY 4.0Flood mapping exists for Oakridge: 1 on record, latest by Toronto Regional Conservation Authority
Wildfire barely registers for Oakridge, at 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.001% a year). NRCan expects $0.043 of shaking damage a year per $1,000 of buildings in Oakridge, near the typical $0.030. Fewer homes than usual carry radon here, 2.7% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Oakridge a grade of A−; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Oakridge’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Oakridge: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Oakridge faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Oakridge: A−
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Oakridge 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: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. 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 Oakridge: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Past fire around Oakridge’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Next to the typical Canadian town (0.000% a year), Oakridge’s 0.001% is in the low band.
The 5 km ring around Oakridge’s homes is clear of burns since 1986, the nearest 21 km out.
Forest makes up 0.2% of the land within 5 km of Oakridge and 1.8% 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
At 0.001% a year, Oakridge 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 Oakridge 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.
Oakridge is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Toronto Regional Conservation Authority
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Oakridge: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
One study on the inventory touches Oakridge, 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
Its flood study puts Oakridge with 69% of towns in Ontario; Canada’s share 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 Oakridge’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.
Expected shaking damage in Oakridge: $0.043 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
1.4 times the typical $0.030: Oakridge’s $0.043 is ordinary.
Oakridge 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
Typical for its province: Oakridge at $0.043 beside a median in Ontario of $0.043, with Alexandria on top 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.
Neither high nor low for Canada: 36% of the 2,611 towns expect more damage than Oakridge.
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 Oakridge’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 Oakridge: 2.7% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Radon tests for the City of Toronto Health Unit
Oakridge’s area, at 2.7%, is below the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town, though any one home can still be high.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The median in Ontario is 4% over 200 Bq/m³; around Oakridge it is 2.7%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Oakridge 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.
One home in Oakridge can be high while next door is low; a three-month test settles it.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Oakridge
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Oakridge; 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 Oakridge, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Oakridge
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oakridge | Low | $0.043 | 2.7% | Yes |
| Taylor-Massey 15,050 · 1.2 km | Low | $0.043 | 2.7% | Yes |
| Birchcliffe-Cliffside 23,115 · 1.2 km | Low | $0.043 | 2.7% | Yes |
| Clairlea-Birchmount 27,690 · 1.8 km | Low | $0.043 | 2.7% | Yes |
| O'Connor-Parkview 18,746 · 2.0 km | Low | $0.043 | 2.7% | Yes |
| East End-Danforth 22,055 · 2.1 km | Low | $0.043 | 2.7% | Yes |
| Woodbine-Lumsden 7,928 · 2.4 km | Low | $0.043 | 2.7% | Yes |
Among its neighbours Oakridge has the most fire on record (low); Taylor-Massey follows (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Oakridge faces
What to do about the hazards Oakridge 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. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Oakridge’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- 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 Oakridge’s.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Oakridge is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. NRCan’s inventory says where flood mapping exists, not where water goes; the map’s owner is the authority for Oakridge.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Oakridge
How big is the earthquake risk in Oakridge?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Oakridge’s buildings lose $0.043 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is radon a problem in Oakridge?
In Health Canada’s survey, 2.7% of 74 homes tested in Oakridge’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Does Oakridge flood?
There is flood mapping for Oakridge on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
Is Oakridge at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0% of the land within 25 km of Oakridge has burned since 1986, the last in 2001, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
How is Oakridge’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Oakridge 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).