Photo: Robert Linsdell · CC BY 2.0A quiet place for hazards: low wildfire, little earthquake risk, and 2.7% of tested homes over the radon guideline in Wychwood’s area
Fire has left almost no mark near Wychwood: 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. Earthquake risk in Wychwood is ordinary: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.043 a year per $1,000 of value, close to the typical town’s $0.030. Wychwood grades A− for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Wychwood’s hazards
For Wychwood, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Wychwood faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Wychwood: A−
For Wychwood, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
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.
Little of the land around Wychwood has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Wychwood’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Fire claims 0.000% of the land around Wychwood each year, a low band, with the typical Canadian town at 0.000%.
Little near Wychwood’s homes can carry a forest fire; only 0.1% of the land within 5 km is forest fuel, and 0.8% 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
Among the 871 towns in Ontario, Sioux Lookout burns fastest (0.16% a year); Wychwood is with the 638 near zero.
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.
Measured against 2,610 towns, Wychwood is in the largest group, low (92%), and at its floor, while 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.
No flood study is listed for Wychwood
Flood studies whose area touches Wychwood, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
No flood study on the national inventory covers Wychwood; 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%; Wychwood 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.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Wychwood’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.”
Earthquakes cost buildings in Wychwood $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, Wychwood’s earthquake risk is about the typical Canadian town’s ($0.030; 1.4 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The median in Ontario is $0.043; Wychwood, 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.
Wychwood 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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in Wychwood 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
2.7% of homes tested around Wychwood are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
At 2.7% over the guideline, the area around Wychwood is under the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. Wychwood shares its radon tests numbers with the rest of the City of Toronto Health Unit.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs lower around Wychwood 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.
63% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have a higher share of homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Wychwood’s band, which holds 37%.
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 Wychwood’s 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 Wychwood
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Wychwood; 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. |
For fires near Wychwood, the national fire information system maps danger and active fires daily; local authorities give any evacuation order.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Wychwood
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wychwood | Low | $0.043 | 2.7% | None listed |
| Dovercourt Village 12,378 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.043 | 2.7% | None listed |
| Humewood-Cedarvale 13,978 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.043 | 2.7% | None listed |
| Corso Italia-Davenport 13,215 · 1.6 km | Low | $0.043 | 2.7% | None listed |
| Oakwood Village 20,830 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.043 | 2.7% | None listed |
| Casa Loma 11,369 · 1.8 km | Low | $0.043 | 2.7% | None listed |
| Junction-Wallace Emerson 23,484 · 2.0 km | Low | $0.043 | 2.7% | None listed |
Nowhere around Wychwood burns more: Dovercourt Village, 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 Wychwood faces
Practical steps for Wychwood’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
- Wildfire counts one way. For Wychwood, 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, Wychwood takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- 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 Wychwood.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Wychwood’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
Questions about flooding and hazards in Wychwood
Does Wychwood flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Wychwood, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
Is radon a problem in Wychwood?
The area’s survey found 2.7% of 74 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Wychwood.
How big is the earthquake risk in Wychwood?
About $0.043 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Wychwood.
How is Wychwood’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Wychwood’s Hazard risk grade is A−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is Wychwood at risk of wildfire?
Very little by the national record: Wychwood’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
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).