Photo: James Victor Salmon · Public domainWoodbridge faces fewer hazards than 90% of Canadian towns
The burned-area map is nearly blank around Woodbridge, 0% within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. Shaking is about as much of a worry in Woodbridge as in most places, at $0.028 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Radon is lower than usual: 0% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Woodbridge a grade of A, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Woodbridge’s hazards
For Woodbridge, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Woodbridge faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Woodbridge: A
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Woodbridge with little fire nearby would get no credit for 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 Woodbridge: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Woodbridge’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Forty years of fire maps put Woodbridge at 0.000% a year, low next to the typical Canadian town’s 0.000%.
Around Woodbridge the forest is thin or far off: 1% of the land within 5 km and 2.9% within 25 km is forest fuel.
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 Woodbridge 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.
Woodbridge 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.
Toronto Regional Conservation Authority has mapped flooding for Woodbridge (1 study)
Flood studies whose area touches Woodbridge, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
The flood study touching Woodbridge 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
Mapping in Ontario reaches 69% of towns, Woodbridge included, beside 58% across Canada.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Woodbridge’s homes are at risk.
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 Woodbridge: $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.
Woodbridge’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
Woodbridge’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 Woodbridge (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 Woodbridge 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). · Area behind the earthquake risk figures: the city of Vaughan
Little radon around Woodbridge: 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 Woodbridge: 0% against 6.6% for the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Woodbridge’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.
Woodbridge is in the lowest band, with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns: under 5% of tests over the guideline, while 63% have more.
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.
Neighbouring homes in Woodbridge can differ a lot; only a long-term test tells you about 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 Woodbridge
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Woodbridge; 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. |
In fire season, check CWFIS for danger and active fires around Woodbridge, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Woodbridge’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Woodbridge | Low | $0.028 | 0% | Yes |
| Pine Grove 13,302 · 2.2 km | Low | $0.028 | 0% | Yes |
| The Ravines of Rainbow Creek 5,333 · 2.4 km | Low | $0.028 | 0% | Yes |
| Vaughan Metropolitan Centre 8,484 · 2.7 km | Low | $0.028 | 0% | Yes |
| The Estates of Rainbow Creek 6,822 · 2.8 km | Low | $0.028 | 0% | Yes |
| Humber Summit 12,194 · 3.5 km | Low | $0.043 | 2.7% | Yes |
| Mount Olive-Silverstone-Jamestown 32,069 · 3.7 km | Low | $0.043 | 2.7% | Yes |
Among its neighbours Woodbridge has the most fire on record (low); Pine Grove follows (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Woodbridge faces
What to do about the hazards Woodbridge 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 Woodbridge.
- 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 Woodbridge floods.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Woodbridge’s included.
- 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 Woodbridge sits in.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Woodbridge
Is Woodbridge at risk of wildfire?
Hardly at all on record: 0% of the land within 25 km of Woodbridge since 1986, a low band, though small grass fires aren’t mapped.
How is Woodbridge’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Woodbridge A, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Does Woodbridge flood?
Woodbridge’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
Is radon a problem in Woodbridge?
Around Woodbridge, 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 Woodbridge?
About $0.028 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Woodbridge.
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).