Photo: Andre Carrotflower · CC BY-SA 4.0Hazard risk in Wawa is lower than in 88% of Canadian towns
Fire seldom reaches Wawa: since 1986, 0% of the land within 25 km has burned (0.000% a year). Earthquakes matter little: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.004 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. In Health Canada’s survey, 8.6% of homes tested in Wawa’s area exceeded 200 Bq/m³, close to the typical 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Wawa a grade of A, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Wawa’s hazards
For Wawa, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Wawa faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Wawa grades A for hazard risk
Earthquake risk and radon make Wawa’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
Its place: #162 of 866 in Ontario and #478 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 Wawa: 0.1% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Past fire around Wawa’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Next to the typical Canadian town (0.000% a year), Wawa’s 0.000% is in the low band.
Forest crowds in on Wawa: 75% of the land within 5 km is forest fuel, more than the 69% 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
To three decimals the burn rate around Wawa is zero, as for 638 of the 871 towns in Ontario, while Sioux Lookout reaches 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; Wawa 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 Wawa
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Wawa: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
There is no study for Wawa on the national flood inventory, which is far from complete.
Towns with a flood study on file
Wawa has no flood study on file, though 69% of towns in Ontario do (Canada: 58%).
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood mapping is shown for Wawa 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.”
Little shaking expected in Wawa: $0.004 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.004 per $1,000, Wawa carries 0.1 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030): low.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in Ontario peaks in Alexandria ($0.21); Wawa, at $0.004, is below the median of $0.043.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Nearly every one of Canada’s 2,611 towns (98%) expects more shaking damage than Wawa.
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 Wawa 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).
Radon about average around Wawa: 8.6% over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Measured across the The District of Algoma Health Unit: radon tests
Wawa’s area, at 8.6%, is close to the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Wawa, 8.6% of tests were over 200 Bq/m³ and 1.1% over 600, against a median of 4% in Ontario.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns share Wawa’s band of 5 to 10%; 26% 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.
Health Canada advises testing every home, Wawa’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Wawa
Alerts for Wawa 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. |
Fire danger and active fires near Wawa are mapped daily by the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System; evacuation orders come from the municipality or province.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Get ready for what Wawa faces
Practical steps for Wawa’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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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 Wawa floods.
- 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 Wawa sits in.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Wawa’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Wildfire counts one way. For Wawa, 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 Wawa
How is Wawa’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Wawa grades A for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Does Wawa flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Wawa (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
How big is the earthquake risk in Wawa?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Wawa $0.004 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is Wawa at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Wawa’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 1995), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Is radon a problem in Wawa?
8.6% of the 93 homes Health Canada tested around Wawa topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
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).