Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domainBeresford faces more hazards than 93% of Canadian towns
Fire seldom reaches Beresford: since 1986, 0.6% of the land within 25 km has burned (0.02% a year). Earthquake risk in Beresford is ordinary: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.051 a year per $1,000 of value, close to the typical town’s $0.030. In Health Canada’s survey, 40% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Beresford grades D for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Beresford’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Beresford: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Beresford faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Beresford: D
Seismic risk and radon set Beresford’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
Its place: #55 of 60 in New Brunswick and #2,499 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Few fires near Beresford: 0% within 5 km, 0.6% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Beresford’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
The yearly burn rate around Beresford is 0.02%, low beside 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Nothing inside 5 km of Beresford’s homes has burned since 1986, and the nearest scar is 18 km off.
The nearer ring around Beresford is less wooded (70% forest fuel) than the land out to 25 km (85%).
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 burns at 0.02% a year, 16th of 60 towns in New Brunswick; the leader, Tracadie, reaches 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, Beresford 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.
A flood study covers Beresford, from Service New Brunswick - GeoNB: 1 on the inventory
Flood studies whose area touches Beresford, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
One study on the inventory touches Beresford, 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
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.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Beresford’s homes stand in a flood zone.
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 Beresford: $0.051 a year per $1,000
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
1.7 times the typical $0.030: Beresford’s $0.051 is ordinary.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Above the middle in New Brunswick: Beresford’s $0.051 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 30% 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).
The loss is to Beresford’s buildings alone, from ground shaking; infrastructure and secondary hazards are left out.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
40% of homes tested around Beresford are over the radon 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.
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.
At least three tests in ten top the guideline around Beresford, a level reached by 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.
Basements, soil and how a house is sealed decide its radon, so in Beresford only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests published for the Region 6 health region, not by town
Weather and fire alerts for 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. |
For fires near Beresford, 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 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 | $0.051 | 40% | Yes |
| Nigadoo 1,102 · 4.6 km | Low | $0.040 | 40% | Yes |
| Beresford 6,543 · 7.9 km | Low | $0.047 | 40% | Yes |
| Bathurst 13,331 · 8.7 km | Moderate | $0.052 | 40% | Yes |
| Petit-Rocher 2,019 · 9.5 km | Low | $0.037 | 40% | Yes |
| Bathurst 4,840 · 10 km | Low | $0.055 | 40% | Yes |
Bathurst has the most fire around it, a moderate band against 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
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Beresford’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Radon is a survey. The radon share comes from about 14,000 long-term home tests in 2009–2011, pooled for now by the 2007 health region Beresford sits in.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Beresford’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. A study’s area can be a whole watershed or province, so being on the inventory says a map exists, not that a home in Beresford floods.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Beresford
Is radon a problem in Beresford?
40% of the 115 homes Health Canada tested around Beresford topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How big is the earthquake risk in Beresford?
About $0.051 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Beresford.
How is Beresford’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Beresford grades D for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is Beresford at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Beresford’s band is low, with 0.6% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 1990), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Does Beresford flood?
Beresford’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
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).