Photo: JFVoll · CC BY-SA 4.0Wainfleet is on Canada’s flood inventory: 8 listed, led by Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority
Since 1986 almost nothing has burned near Wainfleet: 0% of the land within 25 km, or 0.000% a year. Shaking is a bigger worry than in most places, at $0.060 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). In Health Canada’s survey, just 2% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Wainfleet grades B+ for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Wainfleet’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Wainfleet: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Wainfleet faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Wainfleet: B+
Seismic risk and radon set Wainfleet’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
Its place: #466 of 866 in Ontario and #907 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Wildfire is rare near Wainfleet: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Wainfleet’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Low by Canadian standards: 0.000% of the land a year around Wainfleet, 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Land that isn’t forest covers nearly all the ground around Wainfleet: forest fuel is 0.6% within 5 km and 0.8% 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); Wainfleet 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.
Measured against 2,610 towns, Wainfleet 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.
8 flood studies cover Wainfleet, the newest from Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Wainfleet: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The newest of 8 studies covering Wainfleet is Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority’s, from 2025; open its map to see the zones.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coyle and Draper's Creeks | Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority | 2025 | final |
| Oswego Creek | Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority | 2025 | under review |
| Welland River | Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority | 2018 | final |
| Eagle Marsh Drain | Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority | 2010 | final |
| BiedermanDrain | Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority | final | |
| BigForksCreek | Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority | final | |
| CaseyDrain | Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority | final | |
| OswegoCreek | Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Ontario reaches 69% of towns, Wainfleet 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 4 studies touching Wainfleet are spread over time, from the 2010s to the 2020s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Wainfleet.
Flood mapping is shown for Wainfleet to be opened and checked, never turned into a grade.
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.
High seismic risk in Wainfleet: $0.060 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Wainfleet’s $0.060 is about 2 times the typical town’s $0.030: it sits in one of Canada’s more active seismic zones.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Ontario expects $0.043 a year; Wainfleet expects $0.060, and Alexandria $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.
Wainfleet sits above most of Canada’s 2,611 towns on earthquake risk; 29% 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).
The loss is to Wainfleet’s buildings alone, from ground shaking; infrastructure and secondary hazards are left out.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Radon runs low around Wainfleet: 2% of tested 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 Niagara Regional Area Health Unit: radon tests
A lower share than most: 2% of tested homes around Wainfleet, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Wainfleet, 2% of tests were over 200 Bq/m³, under the median in Ontario (4%); 2% were over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Under 5% puts Wainfleet 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.
The survey sampled homes around Wainfleet; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Wainfleet
Alerts for Wainfleet 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 Wainfleet to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Wainfleet’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wainfleet | Low | $0.060 | 2% | Yes |
| Port Colborne 21,921 · 14 km | Low | $0.066 | 2% | Yes |
| Welland 66,480 · 14 km | Low | $0.069 | 2% | Yes |
| Pelham 19,980 · 15 km | Low | $0.055 | 2% | Yes |
Fire is no heavier anywhere nearby than around Wainfleet (low), with Port Colborne next at low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Wainfleet faces
Practical steps for Wainfleet’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
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Wainfleet is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Shaking damage is modelled from the ground, the buildings and the odds of each quake, and published for whole subdivisions such as Wainfleet’s.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. NRCan’s inventory says where flood mapping exists, not where water goes; the map’s owner is the authority for Wainfleet.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Wainfleet’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Wainfleet
Is Wainfleet at risk of wildfire?
Very little by the national record: Wainfleet’s 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 Wainfleet?
2% of the 100 homes Health Canada tested around Wainfleet topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How is Wainfleet’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Wainfleet grades B+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Wainfleet?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Wainfleet $0.060 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Does Wainfleet flood?
There is flood mapping for Wainfleet on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
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).