24% of homes tested in Balmoral’s area are above the radon guideline
Little of the land around Balmoral has burned: 0.8% within 25 km since 1986, or 0.02% a year. Earthquake risk in Balmoral is ordinary: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.035 a year per $1,000 of value, close to the typical town’s $0.030. Hazard risk gives Balmoral a grade of C−; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Balmoral’s hazards
For Balmoral, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Balmoral faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Balmoral: C−
Two inputs always count for Balmoral, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
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 Balmoral: 0.8% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Balmoral’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Next to the typical Canadian town (0.000% a year), Balmoral’s 0.02% is in the low band.
The 5 km ring around Balmoral’s homes is clear of burns since 1986, the nearest 15 km out.
The nearer ring around Balmoral is less wooded (56% forest fuel) than the land out to 25 km (63%).
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 61
Balmoral ranks 16th of the 61 towns in New Brunswick for burn rate, at 0.02% a year; Tracadie leads with 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.
The low band takes in 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, Balmoral among them, though its rate is above zero; 7.5% rank higher.
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.
Service New Brunswick - GeoNB has mapped flooding for Balmoral (1 study)
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Balmoral: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
For Balmoral the inventory points to Service New Brunswick - GeoNB’s 2020 study, whose map is the one to check.
| 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 Balmoral 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.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Balmoral.
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 Balmoral: $0.035 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Balmoral’s $0.035 is close to the typical town’s $0.030 (1.2 times as much).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The median in New Brunswick is $0.036; Balmoral, at $0.035, is right beside it, and St. Stephen tops the list at $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.
Middle of the pack: 46% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have more earthquake risk than Balmoral.
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 Balmoral 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 Balmoral: 24% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Area-wide: radon tests, counted over the Region 5 health region
More homes than usual test high around Balmoral: 24% against 6.6% for the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Ordinary for towns in New Brunswick at 24% over 200 Bq/m³ (20% is the median), the area around Balmoral had 4.5% over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Few of Canada’s 2,611 towns (3.1%) share the 20–30% band with Balmoral, and 1.5% sit above it.
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.
Radon varies from house to house in Balmoral, so the survey is a reason to test, not a result for yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Balmoral
Alerts for Balmoral 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 Balmoral to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Balmoral’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Balmoral | Low | $0.035 | 24% | Yes |
| Eel River Crossing 1,918 · 3.5 km | Low | $0.048 | 24% | Yes |
| Dalhousie 1,132 · 8.7 km | Low | $0.033 | 24% | Yes |
| Charlo 1,386 · 8.8 km | Low | $0.048 | 24% | Yes |
| Dalhousie 3,255 · 11 km | Low | $0.031 | 24% | Yes |
| Campbellton 7,485 · 17 km | Low | $0.038 | 24% | Yes |
| Pointe-à-la-Croix 1,294 · 18 km | Low | $0.036 | 25% | None listed |
Charlo burns a little more than Balmoral, in the same low band (low here).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Balmoral faces
What to do about the hazards Balmoral 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 Balmoral.
- 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 Balmoral until then.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Balmoral’s included.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Balmoral without grading them.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Balmoral
Does Balmoral flood?
A flood study covers Balmoral on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
Is radon a problem in Balmoral?
In Health Canada’s survey, 24% of 110 homes tested in Balmoral’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Is Balmoral at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0.8% of the land within 25 km of Balmoral has burned since 1986, the last in 2025, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
How big is the earthquake risk in Balmoral?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Balmoral $0.035 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
How is Balmoral’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Balmoral C−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
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).