Photo: ...some guy · CC BY 2.0Radon is Alnwick’s main hazard: 29% of tested homes in its area top Health Canada’s guideline
Fire reaches the land around Alnwick now and then: 9.3% within 25 km since 1986 (0.23% a year), below the high band. NRCan expects $0.045 of shaking damage a year per $1,000 of buildings in Alnwick, near the typical $0.030. Hazard risk gives Alnwick a grade of D; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Alnwick’s hazards
For Alnwick, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Alnwick faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Alnwick grades D for hazard risk
The grade weighs Alnwick’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
Its place: #49 of 60 in New Brunswick and #2,474 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
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.
Some fire around Alnwick: 9.3% of the land within 25 km since 1986, 1.7% within 5 km
Past fire around Alnwick’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The yearly burn rate around Alnwick is 0.23%, above 0.000% for the typical Canadian town but under the high band.
Near or far, forest fuel covers a similar share around Alnwick: 89% within 5 km and 85% 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 New Brunswick · highest of 60
The land around Alnwick burns at 0.23% a year, the 4th highest rate of 60 towns in New Brunswick; Tracadie tops it at 0.28%.
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.
Only 5.4% of Canada’s 2,610 towns share the moderate band with Alnwick, and 2.1% sit above it.
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.
Alnwick is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Service New Brunswick - GeoNB
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Alnwick: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
One study on the inventory touches Alnwick, Service New Brunswick - GeoNB’s from 2020, and its area can be large, so it says a map exists, not that the town floods.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inland Flood Mapping in New Brunswick and Updated Sea-Level Rise and Flooding Estimates for New Brunswick Coastal Sections 2020 | Service New Brunswick - GeoNB | 2020 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Its flood study puts Alnwick with 93% of towns in New Brunswick; Canada’s share is 58%.
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 Alnwick.
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.
Expected shaking damage in Alnwick: $0.045 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
With $0.045 of shaking damage a year per $1,000, Alnwick is about even with the typical $0.030 (1.5 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in New Brunswick expects $0.036 a year; Alnwick expects $0.045, and St. Stephen $0.16.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
In the upper part of Canada’s range: 32% of its 2,611 towns expect more damage than Alnwick.
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 Alnwick 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 runs high around Alnwick: 29% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Measured across the Region 7 health region: radon tests
At 29% over the guideline, the area around Alnwick beats the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Alnwick than in most towns in New Brunswick: 29% over the guideline (20% is typical), 5% over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Alnwick is in the 20–30% band, which holds only 3.1% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 1.5% 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 Alnwick’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 Alnwick
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Alnwick; 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. |
For fires near Alnwick, the national fire information system maps danger and active fires daily; local authorities give any evacuation order.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Alnwick’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alnwick | Moderate | $0.045 | 29% | Yes |
| Esgenoôpetitj 14 1,326 · 2.6 km | High | $0.045 | 29% | Yes |
| Neguac 1,733 · 5.0 km | High | $0.039 | 29% | Yes |
Fire is heaviest around Neguac (high), against moderate for Alnwick.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Alnwick faces
What to do about the hazards Alnwick faces, and what to ask before you buy.
- Clear needles and wood nearby.
- Keep a grab-and-go bag ready.
- In smoke, stay in; filter air.
- 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.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- How close is the forest edge?
- 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 Alnwick.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Alnwick’s included.
- 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 Alnwick.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Alnwick takes its 2007 health region’s share.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Alnwick
Is Alnwick at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 9.3% of the land within 25 km of Alnwick has burned since 1986, the last in 2025, a moderate band that leaves Risk alone.
How is Alnwick’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Alnwick D, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is radon a problem in Alnwick?
In Health Canada’s survey, 29% of 200 homes tested in Alnwick’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
How big is the earthquake risk in Alnwick?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Alnwick $0.045 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Does Alnwick flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Alnwick; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in 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).