Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domainRadon is Beresford’s main hazard: 40% of tested homes in its area top Health Canada’s guideline
Burn scars are few around Beresford, with 0.3% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.008% a year). For earthquakes Beresford is middling, $0.047 a year per $1,000 against $0.030 for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Beresford a grade of D, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Beresford’s hazards
For Beresford, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Beresford faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Beresford grades D for hazard risk
For Beresford, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
Its place: #53 of 60 in New Brunswick and #2,494 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.
Few fires near Beresford: 0% within 5 km, 0.3% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Beresford’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Beresford burns at 0.008% a year, low against 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Beresford’s homes have had no fire within 5 km since 1986; the closest was 21 km away.
Near or far, forest fuel covers a similar share around Beresford: 83% within 5 km and 84% 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
Beresford sits mid-table in New Brunswick: 22nd of 60 towns, at 0.008% a year, well behind Tracadie (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.
Beside 2,610 Canadian towns, Beresford reads low, with 92% of them; only 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.
Beresford is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Service New Brunswick - GeoNB
Flood studies whose area touches Beresford, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
A 2020 study by Service New Brunswick - GeoNB covers Beresford, and its map, not the inventory, shows the zones.
| 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
Flood maps are common in New Brunswick: 93% of towns have one, against 58% nationally, and Beresford is among them.
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 Beresford.
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 Beresford $0.047 per $1,000 a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
With $0.047 of shaking damage a year per $1,000, Beresford is about even with the typical $0.030 (1.6 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Above the middle in New Brunswick: Beresford’s $0.047 against a median of $0.036, with St. Stephen highest 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 31% of Canada’s 2,611 towns are above Beresford.
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 Beresford 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 Beresford: 40% of tested homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
More homes than usual test high around Beresford: 40% against 6.6% for the typical Canadian town. Beresford doesn’t get its own radon tests figures; the ones here come from the Region 6 health region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Beresford, 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.
Beresford is in the top band, 30% or more, with just 1.5% of Canada’s towns.
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 Beresford’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 Beresford
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Beresford; 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 Beresford, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Beresford’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beresford | Low | $0.047 | 40% | Yes |
| Nigadoo 1,102 · 3.7 km | Low | $0.040 | 40% | Yes |
| Petit-Rocher 2,019 · 6.8 km | Low | $0.037 | 40% | Yes |
| Beresford 4,389 · 7.9 km | Low | $0.051 | 40% | Yes |
| Bathurst 4,840 · 14 km | Low | $0.055 | 40% | Yes |
| Bathurst 13,331 · 16 km | Moderate | $0.052 | 40% | Yes |
The heaviest fire record nearby is Bathurst’s, moderate to Beresford’s low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Beresford faces
Practical steps for Beresford’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
- 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 Beresford.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Beresford without grading them.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Beresford’s included.
- 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 Beresford until then.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Beresford
Does Beresford flood?
A flood study covers Beresford on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
How is Beresford’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Beresford’s Hazard risk grade is D, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
How big is the earthquake risk in Beresford?
Expected earthquake damage in Beresford comes to $0.047 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is radon a problem in Beresford?
The area’s survey found 40% of 115 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Beresford.
Is Beresford at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Beresford’s low band (0.3% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 1990) is short of the level that counts.
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).