Photo: Cold, Indrid · CC BY-SA 2.0Flood mapping exists for Kensington: 2 on record, latest by Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Action - Government of Prince Edward Island
Wildfire isn’t Kensington’s worry: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (0.000% a year). For earthquakes Kensington is middling, $0.032 a year per $1,000 against $0.030 for the typical town. Radon is lower than usual: 3.5% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Kensington grades A− for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Kensington’s hazards
For Kensington, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Kensington faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Kensington: A−
Seismic risk and radon set Kensington’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Few fires near Kensington: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Kensington’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
With 0.000% burned a year, Kensington is among the many low-band places (the typical Canadian town 0.000%).
Close to Kensington there is little to burn (3.1% forest fuel within 5 km), but 13% of the land within 25 km is forest.
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 on Prince Edward Island · highest of 13
None of the 13 towns on Prince Edward Island has a burn rate above zero to three decimals; Kensington is no exception.
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 Kensington, 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.
Kensington is on the flood map inventory: 2 studies, latest by Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Action - Government of Prince Edward Island
Flood studies whose area touches Kensington, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Action - Government of Prince Edward Island and others have studied flooding in areas that include Kensington: 2 studies, the latest from 2024.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| PEI Pluvial Flood Mapping | Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Action - Government of Prince Edward Island | 2024 | final |
| Prince Edward Island Coastal Hazards | Province of PEI, Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Action | 2021 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
100% of towns on Prince Edward Island have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Kensington has one too.
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 Kensington.
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.
Ordinary seismic risk in Kensington: $0.032 per $1,000 of buildings a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Nothing unusual about Kensington’s ground: $0.032 against a typical $0.030, 1.1 times.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Kensington’s $0.032 tops the median on Prince Edward Island, $0.020, though O'Leary reaches $0.034.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Neither high nor low for Canada: 48% of the 2,611 towns expect more damage than Kensington.
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 Kensington 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).
Radon runs low around Kensington: 3.5% of tested homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Measured across the Prince Edward Island Health Region: radon tests
Where the typical Canadian town has 6.6% of homes over the guideline, Kensington’s area has fewer, 3.5%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The typical town on Prince Edward Island has 3.5% over 200 Bq/m³; Kensington’s area has 3.5%, much the same.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Few tests over the guideline: Kensington shares the bottom band with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, below the other 63%.
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, Kensington’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Kensington
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Kensington; 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. |
Smoke and fire warnings for Kensington come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Kensington
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kensington | Low | $0.032 | 3.5% | Yes |
| Kensington, Part 1 3,357 · 0.8 km | Low | $0.029 | 3.5% | Yes |
| Malpeque Bay 1,351 · 7.6 km | Low | $0.027 | 3.5% | Yes |
| New London 1,443 · 7.8 km | Low | $0.021 | 3.5% | Yes |
| Kinkora 1,416 · 9.7 km | Low | $0.027 | 3.5% | Yes |
| Summerside 19,006 · 12 km | Low | $0.030 | 3.5% | Yes |
| Miscouche 1,113 · 17 km | Low | $0.036 | 3.5% | Yes |
Nowhere around Kensington burns more: Kensington, Part 1, the closest rival, is low to its low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Kensington faces
Practical steps for Kensington’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
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. The flood inventory points to maps; it is incomplete and not the official source, so ask the municipality about any street in Kensington.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Kensington takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Kensington’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Wildfire counts one way. For Kensington, 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 Kensington
Is Kensington at risk of wildfire?
Very little by the national record: Kensington’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Does Kensington flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Kensington; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Kensington?
Expected earthquake damage in Kensington comes to $0.032 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
How is Kensington’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Kensington A−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is radon a problem in Kensington?
3.5% of the 113 homes Health Canada tested around Kensington 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).