Photo: Diablo2003 · Public domainOn hazards, Bathurst comes out behind 93% of Canadian towns
Some 2.2% of the land within 25 km of Bathurst has burned since 1986; at 0.06% a year that is moderate, not high. Earthquake risk in Bathurst is ordinary: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.052 a year per $1,000 of value, close to the typical town’s $0.030. More homes than usual carry radon here, 40% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Bathurst a grade of D; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Bathurst’s hazards
For Bathurst, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Bathurst faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Bathurst grades D for hazard risk
Seismic risk and radon set Bathurst’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
Its place: #56 of 60 in New Brunswick and #2,503 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.
Fire reaches the land around Bathurst: 0% within 5 km, 2.2% within 25 km
Past fire around Bathurst’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Moderate: the land around Bathurst burns at 0.06% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
The closest burn since 1986 lies 9.1 km from Bathurst’s homes, none within 5 km.
Within 5 km of Bathurst, 75% of the land is forest fuel; widen the ring to 25 km and it is 86%.
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
In the top quarter in New Brunswick: Bathurst ranks 8th of 60 at 0.06% a year, with Tracadie first 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.
Moderate puts Bathurst above most of Canada’s 2,610 towns, yet 2.1% rank high or very high and 5.4% share its band.
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.
Bathurst is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Service New Brunswick - GeoNB
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Bathurst: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
For Bathurst 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
93% of towns in New Brunswick have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Bathurst has one too.
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 Bathurst.
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.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Bathurst $0.052 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Bathurst’s $0.052 is close to the typical town’s $0.030 (1.7 times as much).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.052, Bathurst is above the typical town in New Brunswick ($0.036); St. Stephen has the most 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.
More earthquake risk than most: only 30% of Canada’s 2,611 towns are above Bathurst.
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 Bathurst 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).
Test for radon in Bathurst: 40% of area homes were 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 6 health region
Radon runs above the typical Canadian town (6.6%) in Bathurst’s area, at 40%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Bathurst, 40% of tests were over 200 Bq/m³ and 17% over 600, against a median of 20% in New Brunswick.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
No band is higher: Bathurst is among the 1.5% of Canada’s towns with 30% or more of tests over 200 Bq/m³.
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, Bathurst’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Bathurst
Alerts for Bathurst 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. |
Evacuation orders for Bathurst come from the municipality or the province, while CWFIS maps fire danger every day.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Bathurst’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bathurst | Moderate | $0.052 | 40% | Yes |
| Bathurst 4,840 · 7.4 km | Low | $0.055 | 40% | Yes |
| Beresford 4,389 · 8.7 km | Low | $0.051 | 40% | Yes |
| Nigadoo 1,102 · 13 km | Low | $0.040 | 40% | Yes |
| Beresford 6,543 · 16 km | Low | $0.047 | 40% | Yes |
| Petit-Rocher 2,019 · 18 km | Low | $0.037 | 40% | Yes |
Bathurst (low) has the heaviest fire record of Bathurst’s neighbours, and Bathurst (moderate) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Bathurst faces
Practical steps for Bathurst’s hazards, most pressing first.
- 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
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Bathurst’s included.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Bathurst takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- 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 Bathurst.
- 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 Bathurst.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Bathurst
Does Bathurst flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Bathurst; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Bathurst?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Bathurst’s buildings lose $0.052 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is Bathurst at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Bathurst’s moderate band (2.2% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 1990) is short of the level that counts.
How is Bathurst’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Bathurst grades D for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is radon a problem in Bathurst?
The area’s survey found 40% of 115 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Bathurst.
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).