Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domainPine Grove faces fewer hazards than 90% of Canadian towns
Wildfire barely registers for Pine Grove, at 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). NRCan expects $0.028 of shaking damage a year per $1,000 of buildings in Pine Grove, near the typical $0.030. Radon is lower than usual: 0% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Pine Grove grades A for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Pine Grove’s hazards
For Pine Grove, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Pine Grove faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Pine Grove grades A for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Pine Grove, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
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.
Wildfire is rare near Pine Grove: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Pine Grove’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Low by Canadian standards: 0.000% of the land a year around Pine Grove, 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Land that isn’t forest covers nearly all the ground around Pine Grove: forest fuel is 2.4% within 5 km and 3.7% 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); Pine Grove 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%), Pine Grove 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.
A flood study covers Pine Grove, from Toronto Regional Conservation Authority: 1 on the inventory
Flood studies whose area touches Pine Grove, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
One study on the inventory touches Pine Grove, Toronto Regional Conservation Authority’s from 2021, and its area can be large, so it says a map exists, not that the town floods.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Toronto Floodline Consolidation | Toronto Regional Conservation Authority | 2021 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Pine Grove 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 Pine Grove.
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 Pine Grove: $0.028 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.
With $0.028 of shaking damage a year per $1,000, Pine Grove is about even with the typical $0.030 (0.9 times).
Pine Grove doesn’t get its own earthquake risk figures; the ones here come from the city of Vaughan.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Pine Grove’s $0.028 sits under the median in Ontario, $0.043, and well under Alexandria’s $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 Pine Grove (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 Pine Grove 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 Pine Grove: 0% of area homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Fewer homes than usual test high around Pine Grove: 0% against 6.6% for the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs lower around Pine Grove 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 Pine Grove; 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 Pine Grove, 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). · Radon tests: one figure for all of the York Regional Health Unit
Where to get warnings in Pine Grove
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Pine Grove; 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 Pine Grove, 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 Pine Grove
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pine Grove | Low | $0.028 | 0% | Yes |
| The Ravines of Rainbow Creek 5,333 · 2.1 km | Low | $0.028 | 0% | Yes |
| Woodbridge 18,835 · 2.2 km | Low | $0.028 | 0% | Yes |
| Elder Mills 16,790 · 2.7 km | Low | $0.028 | 0% | Yes |
| Woodbridge Meadows 3,651 · 2.8 km | Low | $0.028 | 0% | Yes |
| Vaughan Metropolitan Centre 8,484 · 2.8 km | Low | $0.028 | 0% | Yes |
| The Estates of Rainbow Creek 6,822 · 2.9 km | Low | $0.028 | 0% | Yes |
Fire is no heavier anywhere nearby than around Pine Grove (low), with The Ravines of Rainbow Creek next at low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Pine Grove faces
What to do about the hazards Pine Grove 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
- 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 Pine Grove.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Pine Grove without grading them.
- Radon is a survey. Radon figures pool the survey’s home tests by area: postal areas once their boundaries arrive, the 2007 health region around Pine Grove until then.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Pine Grove’s included.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Pine Grove
How is Pine Grove’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Pine Grove A, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Does Pine Grove flood?
A flood study covers Pine Grove on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
Is radon a problem in Pine Grove?
Around Pine Grove, 95 survey homes were tested and 0% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How big is the earthquake risk in Pine Grove?
About $0.028 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Pine Grove.
Is Pine Grove at risk of wildfire?
Very little by the national record: Pine Grove’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).