Photo: Ryan Tir from Vaughan, ON, Canada · CC BY 2.0Hazard risk in Crossroads is lower than in 90% of Canadian towns
Around Crossroads, wildfire is practically absent from the record: 0% within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. NRCan expects $0.028 of shaking damage a year per $1,000 of buildings in Crossroads, near the typical $0.030. In Health Canada’s survey, just 0% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Crossroads grades A for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Crossroads’s hazards
For Crossroads, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Crossroads faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Crossroads grades A for hazard risk
The grade weighs Crossroads’ seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
Its place: #74 of 866 in Ontario and #383 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Few fires near Crossroads: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Crossroads’ residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Around Crossroads fire takes 0.000% of the land in a typical year, the typical Canadian town 0.000%, which is low.
With 0.4% forest fuel within 5 km and 3.6% within 25 km, the land around Crossroads 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
Near-zero burning puts Crossroads with 638 of the 871 towns in Ontario, far below Sioux Lookout 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.
Only 7.5% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are above the low band, which holds 92%; Crossroads, at a rounded zero, is far from them.
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.
Toronto Regional Conservation Authority has mapped flooding for Crossroads (1 study)
Flood studies whose area touches Crossroads, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Toronto Regional Conservation Authority studied flooding in an area that includes Crossroads (2021); open its map to see which streets lie in a flood zone.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Toronto Floodline Consolidation | Toronto Regional Conservation Authority | 2021 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Crossroads is one of the 69% of towns in Ontario with a flood study on file; across Canada it is 58%.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Crossroads 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.
Ordinary seismic risk in Crossroads: $0.028 per $1,000 of buildings a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Nothing unusual about Crossroads’ ground: $0.028 against a typical $0.030, 0.9 times.
Nobody publishes earthquake risk for Crossroads alone, so this card uses the figure for the city of Vaughan.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.028, Crossroads is below the typical town in Ontario ($0.043); Alexandria is highest 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.
Around half of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Crossroads (51%).
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).
For Crossroads the model prices shaking damage to buildings, nothing more.
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 Crossroads: 0% of area homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Where the typical Canadian town has 6.6% of homes over the guideline, Crossroads’ area has fewer, 0%. For radon tests, the only official count covers all of the York Regional Health Unit, Crossroads included.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs lower around Crossroads than in most towns in Ontario: 0% against 4%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
The quietest radon band, under 5%, holds 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns and Crossroads; 63% sit higher.
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.
Radon varies from house to house in Crossroads, so the survey is a reason to test, not a result for yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Crossroads
Alerts for Crossroads 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 Crossroads to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Crossroads
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crossroads | Low | $0.028 | 0% | Yes |
| Thornhill Woods 13,237 · 1.2 km | Low | $0.028 | 0% | Yes |
| Dufferin Hill 7,910 · 1.6 km | Low | $0.028 | 0% | Yes |
| Beverley Glen 38,720 · 2.7 km | Low | $0.028 | 0% | Yes |
| The Valleys of Thornhill 9,979 · 2.9 km | Low | $0.028 | 0% | Yes |
| Carrville Corners 13,004 · 3.1 km | Low | $0.028 | 0% | Yes |
| Thornhill 17,940 · 3.9 km | Low | $0.028 | 0% | Yes |
The fire record around Beverley Glen is a touch heavier than Crossroads’, but the band is the same: low (here low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Crossroads faces
What to do about the hazards Crossroads 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
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Crossroads’ census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Wildfire counts one way. For Crossroads, 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. The radon share comes from about 14,000 long-term home tests in 2009–2011, pooled for now by the 2007 health region Crossroads sits in.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. A study’s area can be a whole watershed or province, so being on the inventory says a map exists, not that a home in Crossroads floods.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Crossroads
Does Crossroads flood?
Crossroads’ area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
How is Crossroads’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Crossroads’ Hazard risk grade is A, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
How big is the earthquake risk in Crossroads?
Expected earthquake damage in Crossroads comes to $0.028 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is Crossroads at risk of wildfire?
Very little by the national record: Crossroads’ band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Is radon a problem in Crossroads?
Around Crossroads, 95 survey homes were tested and 0% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
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).