Photo: JustSomePics · CC0Wingham is on Canada’s flood inventory: 1 listed, led by Maitland Valley Conservation Authority
Fire has left almost no mark near Wingham: 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. Earthquakes matter little: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.013 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Radon is higher than usual: 11% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Wingham a grade of B, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Wingham’s hazards
For Wingham, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Wingham faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Wingham grades B for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Wingham with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #624 of 866 in Ontario and #1,431 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 Wingham: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Wingham’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
The land within 25 km of Wingham burns at 0.000% a year on average, the low band; the typical Canadian town: 0.000%.
Only 2.1% of the land within 25 km of Wingham is forest fuel, and 1.6% close in.
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
Little or nothing burns around Wingham in a typical year; 638 of the 871 towns in Ontario share that, and Sioux Lookout leads 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.
Most of the country’s 2,610 towns are low-band (92%, against 7.5% above); around Wingham, burning 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.
Wingham is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Maitland Valley Conservation Authority
Flood studies whose area touches Wingham, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
The flood study touching Wingham is Maitland Valley Conservation Authority’s, dated 2026; its own map shows the zones street by street.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wingham Floodplain Mapping Update - Howson Dam Removal | Maitland Valley Conservation Authority | 2026 | final · not public |
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Ontario reaches 69% of towns, Wingham 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.
Nothing here counts toward Risk; the studies are pointers to the maps their owners keep for Wingham.
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.
Little shaking expected in Wingham: $0.013 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.
0.4 times the typical $0.030: Wingham’s $0.013 is low for Canada.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Below the middle in Ontario: Wingham’s $0.013 against a median of $0.043; Alexandria has $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.
Toward the quiet end of Canada’s range: 75% of its 2,611 towns sit above Wingham.
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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in Wingham is counted; landslides, liquefaction, tsunami and fire after a quake aren’t.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
11% of homes tested around Wingham are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Radon runs above the typical Canadian town (6.6%) in Wingham’s area, at 11%. For radon tests, the only official count covers all of the Huron County Health Unit, Wingham included.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Wingham than in most towns in Ontario: 11% over the guideline (4% is typical), 0.9% over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Wingham is in the 10–20% band, with 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; only 4.6% are 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.
Whatever Wingham’s area share, the reading that matters is your own home’s, over a winter.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Wingham
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Wingham; 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 Wingham, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Wingham’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wingham | Low | $0.013 | 11% | Yes |
| Morris-Turnberry 4,028 · 5.5 km | Low | $0.015 | 11% | Yes |
| Howick 4,517 · 18 km | Low | $0.016 | 11% | None listed |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Wingham (low); Morris-Turnberry comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Wingham faces
What to do about the hazards Wingham 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 Wingham.
- 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 Wingham sits in.
- 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 Wingham floods.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Wingham’s included.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Wingham
Is Wingham at risk of wildfire?
Hardly at all on record: 0% of the land within 25 km of Wingham since 1986, a low band, though small grass fires aren’t mapped.
Does Wingham flood?
Wingham’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 Wingham?
Around Wingham, 106 survey homes were tested and 11% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How big is the earthquake risk in Wingham?
About $0.013 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Wingham.
How is Wingham’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Wingham grades B for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the 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).