Photo: Canmenwalker · CC BY 4.0Flood mapping exists for The Beaches: 1 on record, latest by Toronto Regional Conservation Authority
For The Beaches, 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 The Beaches 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). The Beaches grades A− for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about The Beaches’s hazards
For The Beaches, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What The Beaches faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in The Beaches: A−
Two inputs always count for The Beaches, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
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. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Few fires near The Beaches: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where The Beaches’ residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Around The Beaches fire takes 0.001% of the land in a typical year, the typical Canadian town 0.000%, which is low.
Nothing inside 5 km of The Beaches’ homes has burned since 1986, and the nearest scar is 23 km off.
Land that isn’t forest covers nearly all the ground around The Beaches: forest fuel is 0.9% within 5 km and 1.2% 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; The Beaches, 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.
Beside 2,610 Canadian towns, The Beaches 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 Beaches is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Toronto Regional Conservation Authority
Flood studies whose area touches The Beaches, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Toronto Regional Conservation Authority holds the flood mapping that covers The Beaches (2021), linked below.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Toronto Floodline Consolidation | Toronto Regional Conservation Authority | 2021 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Its flood study puts The Beaches 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 mapping is shown for The Beaches 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.
Earthquakes cost buildings in The Beaches $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.
At $0.043 per $1,000, The Beaches’ earthquake risk is about the typical Canadian town’s ($0.030; 1.4 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk around The Beaches ($0.043) matches the middle in Ontario ($0.043), far from Alexandria’s $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.
The Beaches’ 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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in The Beaches 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). · Earthquake risk: one figure for all of the city of Toronto
Little radon around The Beaches: 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.
A lower share than most: 2.7% of tested homes around The Beaches, the typical Canadian town 6.6%. For radon tests, the only official count covers all of the City of Toronto Health Unit, The Beaches included.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Fewer homes top the guideline around The Beaches (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.
The Beaches 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.
Whatever The Beaches’ area share, the reading that matters is your own home’s, over a winter.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in The Beaches
Alerts for The Beaches 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. |
Fire danger and active fires near The Beaches are mapped daily by the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System; evacuation orders come from the municipality or province.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How The Beaches’ neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Beaches | Low | $0.043 | 2.7% | Yes |
| East End-Danforth 22,055 · 1.4 km | Low | $0.043 | 2.7% | Yes |
| Woodbine Corridor 12,283 · 1.6 km | Low | $0.043 | 2.7% | Yes |
| Greenwood-Coxwell 14,146 · 2.1 km | Low | $0.043 | 2.7% | Yes |
| Woodbine-Lumsden 7,928 · 2.5 km | Low | $0.043 | 2.7% | Yes |
| Taylor-Massey 15,050 · 2.6 km | Low | $0.043 | 2.7% | Yes |
| Danforth 9,364 · 2.9 km | Low | $0.043 | 2.7% | None listed |
Nowhere around The Beaches burns more: East End-Danforth, 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 The Beaches faces
What to do about the hazards The Beaches 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. The flood inventory points to maps; it is incomplete and not the official source, so ask the municipality about any street in The Beaches.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for The Beaches’ census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Wildfire counts one way. For The Beaches, 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. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, The Beaches takes its 2007 health region’s share.
Questions about flooding and hazards in The Beaches
How is The Beaches’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives The Beaches A−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
How big is the earthquake risk in The Beaches?
About $0.043 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for The Beaches.
Is The Beaches at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0% of the land within 25 km of The Beaches has burned since 1986, the last in 2001, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
Does The Beaches flood?
The inventory lists a study touching The Beaches; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
Is radon a problem in The Beaches?
In Health Canada’s survey, 2.7% of 74 homes tested in The Beaches’ area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
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).