Photo: Mathew Ingram · CC BY 2.0Few places are as safe from hazards as Maple: it beats 90% of Canadian towns
Wildfire isn’t Maple’s worry: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (0.000% a year). For earthquakes Maple is middling, $0.028 a year per $1,000 against $0.030 for the typical town. In Health Canada’s survey, just 0% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Maple grades A for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Maple’s hazards
For Maple, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Maple faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Maple: A
Seismic risk and radon set Maple’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
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 Maple: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Past fire around Maple’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
In a typical year 0.000% of the land near Maple burns; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%, and both are low.
Forest makes up 1.1% of the land within 5 km of Maple and 3.9% within 25 km, little for a forest fire to run through.
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
Of the 871 towns in Ontario, 638 have a burn rate that rounds to zero, Maple among them; Sioux Lookout leads at 0.16% a year.
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.
Maple shares the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, its burn rate rounding to nothing; 7.5% burn faster.
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 Maple, from Toronto Regional Conservation Authority: 1 on the inventory
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Maple: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The flood study touching Maple 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
Flood maps are common in Ontario: 69% of towns have one, against 58% nationally, and Maple is among them.
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 Maple.
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 Maple: $0.028 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Maple’s $0.028 is close to the typical town’s $0.030 (0.9 times as much).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.028, Maple 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.
Middle of the pack: 51% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have more earthquake risk than Maple.
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 Maple 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). · Earthquake risk published for the city of Vaughan, not by town
Little radon around Maple: 0% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Fewer homes than usual test high around Maple: 0% against 6.6% for the typical Canadian town. Maple doesn’t get its own radon tests figures; the ones here come from the York Regional Health Unit.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Maple’s area, at 0%, is below the median in Ontario (4%).
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Few tests over the guideline: Maple shares the bottom band with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, below the other 63%.
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, Maple’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Maple
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Maple; 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 Maple, 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 Maple
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maple | Low | $0.028 | 0% | Yes |
| Carrville Corners 13,004 · 2.0 km | Low | $0.028 | 0% | Yes |
| Teston 7,437 · 2.3 km | Low | $0.028 | 0% | Yes |
| Peace Village 14,598 · 2.4 km | Low | $0.028 | 0% | Yes |
| Dufferin Hill 7,910 · 2.9 km | Low | $0.028 | 0% | Yes |
| Purpleville 19,918 · 3.6 km | Low | $0.028 | 0% | Yes |
| Vellore 39,490 · 3.8 km | Low | $0.028 | 0% | Yes |
Among its neighbours Maple has the most fire on record (low); Carrville Corners follows (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Maple faces
Practical steps for Maple’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. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Maple’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- 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 Maple 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 Maple floods.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Maple, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Maple
How is Maple’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Maple A, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is Maple at risk of wildfire?
Hardly at all on record: 0% of the land within 25 km of Maple since 1986, a low band, though small grass fires aren’t mapped.
How big is the earthquake risk in Maple?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Maple $0.028 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is radon a problem in Maple?
The area’s survey found 0% of 95 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Maple.
Does Maple flood?
Maple’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
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).