Photo: Joe Mabel (on Flickr as Joe Mabel from Seattle, US) · CC BY-SA 3.0Hazard risk in Wasaga Beach is lower than in 92% of Canadian towns
The national fire record shows next to nothing around Wasaga Beach, 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). Shaking is about as much of a worry in Wasaga Beach as in most places, at $0.020 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Fewer homes than usual carry radon here, 0.9% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Wasaga Beach a grade of A, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Wasaga Beach’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Wasaga Beach: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Wasaga Beach faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Wasaga Beach grades A for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Wasaga Beach, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
Its place: #30 of 866 in Ontario and #282 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Wildfire is rare near Wasaga Beach: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Wasaga Beach’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
In a typical year 0.000% of the land near Wasaga Beach burns; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%, and both are low.
Near or far, forest fuel covers a similar share around Wasaga Beach: 13% within 5 km and 15% 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
Near-zero burning puts Wasaga Beach 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.
92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are in the low band and 7.5% above it; Wasaga Beach is among the many where the yearly burn rate rounds to zero.
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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Wasaga Beach
Flood studies whose area touches Wasaga Beach, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
NRCan’s inventory is silent on Wasaga Beach, so any flood map would be the municipality’s own.
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Ontario reaches 69% of towns, beside 58% across Canada, but not Wasaga Beach.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Wasaga Beach.
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.”
Earthquakes cost buildings in Wasaga Beach $0.020 per $1,000 a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Wasaga Beach’s $0.020 is close to the typical town’s $0.030 (0.7 times as much).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.020, Wasaga Beach 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: 64% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have more earthquake risk than Wasaga Beach.
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 model counts damage to Wasaga Beach’s buildings and their occupants from shaking only: not liquefaction, landslides, tsunami or fires after a quake.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
0.9% of homes tested around Wasaga Beach are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
At 0.9% over the guideline, the area around Wasaga Beach is under the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. Nobody publishes radon tests for Wasaga Beach alone, so this card uses the figure for the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Wasaga Beach’s area, at 0.9%, 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.
Wasaga Beach 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.
A survey sample isn’t a map: any home in Wasaga Beach can be high, and a three-month test is the only way to know.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Wasaga Beach
Alerts for Wasaga Beach 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 Wasaga Beach to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Wasaga Beach’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wasaga Beach | Low | $0.020 | 0.9% | None listed |
| Stayner 16,571 · 10 km | Low | $0.015 | 0.9% | Yes |
| Collingwood 28,366 · 14 km | Low | $0.016 | 0.9% | None listed |
The neighbour with the most fire is Stayner (low), still no more than Wasaga Beach (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Wasaga Beach faces
What to do about the hazards Wasaga Beach 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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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 Wasaga Beach until then.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Wasaga Beach without grading them.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Wasaga Beach’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Wasaga Beach’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Wasaga Beach
Is radon a problem in Wasaga Beach?
Around Wasaga Beach, 109 survey homes were tested and 0.9% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How is Wasaga Beach’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Wasaga Beach’s Hazard risk grade is A, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
How big is the earthquake risk in Wasaga Beach?
About $0.020 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Wasaga Beach.
Does Wasaga Beach flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Wasaga Beach’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
Is Wasaga Beach at risk of wildfire?
No meaningful wildfire history near Wasaga Beach: 0% of nearby land since 1986, band low.
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).