Photo: Vertiflite · CC BY-SA 3.0Flood mapping exists for Vaughan: 1 on record, latest by Toronto Regional Conservation Authority
Fire has left almost no mark near Vaughan: 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. Shaking is about as much of a worry in Vaughan as in most places, at $0.028 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Fewer homes than usual carry radon here, 0% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%.
What stands out about Vaughan’s hazards
For Vaughan, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Vaughan faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Vaughan isn’t graded for hazard risk yet
Seismic risk and radon set Vaughan’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
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.
Little of the land around Vaughan has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Vaughan’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
With 0.000% burned a year, Vaughan is among the many low-band places (the typical Canadian town 0.000%).
No fire has burned within 5 km of Vaughan’s homes since 1986; the nearest burn is 23 km away.
The forest starts beyond town: 2.4% of the land within 5 km of Vaughan’s homes is forest fuel, against 5.2% 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 872
Little or nothing burns around Vaughan in a typical year; 639 of the 872 towns in Ontario share that, and Sioux Lookout leads 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.
Measured against 2,610 towns, Vaughan 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.
A flood study covers Vaughan, from Toronto Regional Conservation Authority: 1 on the inventory
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Vaughan: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The flood study touching Vaughan is Toronto Regional Conservation Authority’s, dated 2021; its own map shows the zones street by street.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Toronto Floodline Consolidation | Toronto Regional Conservation Authority | 2021 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Vaughan 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.
Nothing here counts toward Risk; the studies are pointers to the maps their owners keep for Vaughan.
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 Vaughan: $0.028 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Nothing unusual about Vaughan’s ground: $0.028 against a typical $0.030, 0.9 times.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Ontario expects $0.043 a year in shaking damage; Vaughan expects less, $0.028, and Alexandria the most, $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.
Vaughan’s earthquake risk lands near the centre of Canada’s range; 51% 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).
What a quake does after the shaking, fire, landslides, tsunami, falls outside NRCan’s figure for Vaughan.
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 Vaughan: 0% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Shared with the rest of the York Regional Health Unit: radon tests
A lower share than most: 0% of tested homes around Vaughan, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Fewer homes top the guideline around Vaughan (0%) 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.
Under 5% puts Vaughan with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 63% have more high tests.
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.
Health Canada advises testing every home, Vaughan’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Vaughan
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Vaughan; 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 Vaughan, 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)
How Vaughan’s neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vaughan | Low | $0.028 | 0% | Yes |
| Maple 20,122 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.028 | 0% | Yes |
| Vellore 39,490 · 2.5 km | Low | $0.028 | 0% | Yes |
| Peace Village 14,598 · 3.1 km | Low | $0.028 | 0% | Yes |
| Carrville Corners 13,004 · 3.3 km | Low | $0.028 | 0% | Yes |
| Dufferin Hill 7,910 · 3.3 km | Low | $0.028 | 0% | Yes |
| Purpleville 19,918 · 3.4 km | Low | $0.028 | 0% | Yes |
Nowhere around Vaughan burns more: Maple, 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 Vaughan faces
Practical steps for Vaughan’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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Vaughan’s 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 Vaughan.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Vaughan 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 Vaughan.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Vaughan
How is Vaughan’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
When Canada’s grades arrive, Vaughan’s Risk will average earthquakes and radon and let wildfire only pull it down.
Does Vaughan flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Vaughan; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
Is radon a problem in Vaughan?
The area’s survey found 0% of 95 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Vaughan.
How big is the earthquake risk in Vaughan?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Vaughan $0.028 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is Vaughan at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Vaughan’s low band (0% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2001) is short of the level that counts.
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).