Photo: Rick Harris from Canada · CC BY-SA 2.0A flood study covers Trent Lakes: 6 on the national inventory, the newest from Kawartha Conservation and City of Kawartha Lakes
Around Trent Lakes, wildfire is practically absent from the record: 0% within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. Seismic risk in Trent Lakes sits near the middle: $0.025 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. About as many homes carry radon around Trent Lakes as elsewhere, 8.9% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Trent Lakes a grade of B, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Trent Lakes’s hazards
For Trent Lakes, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Trent Lakes faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Trent Lakes: B
Earthquake risk and radon make Trent Lakes’ grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
Its place: #639 of 866 in Ontario and #1,515 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Wildfire is rare near Trent Lakes: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Trent Lakes’ residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Next to the typical Canadian town (0.000% a year), Trent Lakes’ 0.000% is in the low band.
Fire has stayed at least 11 km from Trent Lakes’ homes since 1986.
Near or far, forest fuel covers a similar share around Trent Lakes: 31% within 5 km and 32% 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); Trent Lakes 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.
Like most of Canada’s 2,610 towns (92%), Trent Lakes is in the low band, with a burn rate of zero to three decimals; 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.
6 flood studies cover Trent Lakes, the newest from Kawartha Conservation and City of Kawartha Lakes
Flood studies whose area touches Trent Lakes, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
6 studies on the inventory touch Trent Lakes, the newest Kawartha Conservation and City of Kawartha Lakes’s from 2026, and their areas can be large, so they say maps exist, not that the town floods.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Burnt River Between Kinmount Dam and Hillside Drive | Kawartha Conservation and City of Kawartha Lakes | 2026 | final |
| Gull and Burnt River Watersheds within Haliburton County | County of Haliburton | 2024 | final |
| Miskwaa Ziibi River | Kawartha Region Conservation Area and Municipality of Trent Lake | 2024 | final |
| Nogies Creek Flood Plain Mapping Study | Kawartha Region Conservation Area and Municipality of Trent Lake | 2024 | final |
| County of Haliburton Floodplain Mapping Project | Ganaraska Region Conservation Authority | 2024 | final |
| Bobcaygeon Tributary | Kawartha Conservation Authority | 2019 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
69% of towns in Ontario have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Trent Lakes has one too.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Mapping around Trent Lakes goes back to the 2010s and peaks in the 2020s, with 5 of its 6 studies.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Trent Lakes.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Trent Lakes 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.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
Expected shaking damage in Trent Lakes: $0.025 a year per $1,000
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Earthquake losses in Trent Lakes, $0.025 per $1,000, are in line with the typical $0.030 (0.8 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in Ontario peaks in Alexandria ($0.21); Trent Lakes, at $0.025, is below the median of $0.043.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Trent Lakes sits mid-range among Canada’s 2,611 towns: 53% 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 Trent Lakes 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).
Radon about average around Trent Lakes: 8.9% over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Trent Lakes’ area sits close to the typical Canadian town: 8.9% over the guideline, against 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Trent Lakes than in most towns in Ontario: 8.9% over the guideline (4% is typical), 0.9% over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Radon tops the guideline in a modest share of homes around Trent Lakes, a band holding 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% rank above.
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 Trent Lakes’ 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). · Data for radon tests covers the Peterborough County-City Health Unit
Where to get warnings in Trent Lakes
Alerts for Trent Lakes 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 Trent Lakes to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Trent Lakes’ neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trent Lakes | Low | $0.025 | 8.9% | Yes |
| Curve Lake First Nation 35 1,428 · 14 km | Low | $0.019 | 8.9% | None listed |
Among its neighbours Trent Lakes has the most fire on record (low); Curve Lake First Nation 35 follows (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Trent Lakes faces
Practical steps for Trent Lakes’ 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?
- 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 Trent Lakes.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Trent Lakes’ included.
- Wildfire counts one way. Burned land within 25 km of where people live, averaged over 1986–2025 and checked for fuel near homes, is the measure; it looks back, not ahead, and only ever counts against Trent Lakes.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Trent Lakes takes its 2007 health region’s share.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Trent Lakes
How big is the earthquake risk in Trent Lakes?
Expected earthquake damage in Trent Lakes comes to $0.025 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
How is Trent Lakes’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Trent Lakes’ Hazard risk grade is B, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Does Trent Lakes flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Trent Lakes; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
Is Trent Lakes at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Trent Lakes’ band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2025), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Is radon a problem in Trent Lakes?
8.9% of the 112 homes Health Canada tested around Trent Lakes topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
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).