Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domainHigh radon around Bright: 17% of homes tested in the area exceed 200 Bq/m³
Little of the land around Bright has burned: 0% within 25 km since 1986, or 0.000% a year. NRCan expects $0.034 of shaking damage a year per $1,000 of buildings in Bright, near the typical $0.030. Bright grades C for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Bright’s hazards
For Bright, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Bright faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Bright: C
For Bright, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
Its place: #13 of 60 in New Brunswick and #2,236 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.
Little of the land around Bright has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Bright’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
The yearly burn rate around Bright is 0.000%, low beside 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Forest thickens with distance from Bright: 71% of the land within 5 km, 79% 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
To three decimals the burn rate around Bright is zero, as for 15 of the 60 towns in New Brunswick, while 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.
Measured against 2,610 towns, Bright is in the largest group, low (92%), and at its floor, while 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.
Bright is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Service New Brunswick - GeoNB
Flood studies whose area touches Bright, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
The flood study touching Bright is Service New Brunswick - GeoNB’s, dated 2020; its own map shows the zones street by street.
| 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 Bright is among them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Bright’s homes are at risk.
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 Bright $0.034 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.
1.1 times the typical $0.030: Bright’s $0.034 is ordinary.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
About level with the typical town in New Brunswick: Bright’s $0.034 against $0.036; St. Stephen reaches $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.
Bright sits mid-range among Canada’s 2,611 towns: 46% expect more shaking damage.
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 Bright 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).
17% of homes tested around Bright are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Measured across the Region 3 health region: radon tests
Bright’s area, at 17%, is above the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town, so testing is worth more here than most places.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
7.1% of tests around Bright passed 600 Bq/m³; over 200, its 17% matches the median in New Brunswick, 20%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
One test in ten or more tops the guideline around Bright, as in 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 4.6% go 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 Bright’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 Bright
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Bright; 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 Bright, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Bright’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bright | Low | $0.034 | 17% | Yes |
| Queensbury 1,421 · 10 km | Low | $0.041 | 17% | None listed |
| Douglas 6,840 · 13 km | Low | $0.036 | 17% | Yes |
| Kingsclear 3,158 · 15 km | Low | $0.034 | 17% | Yes |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Bright (low); Queensbury comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Bright faces
Practical steps for Bright’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. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Bright’s included.
- 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 Bright sits in.
- 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 Bright.
- 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 Bright floods.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Bright
How big is the earthquake risk in Bright?
About $0.034 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Bright.
Does Bright flood?
Bright’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
Is Bright at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Bright’s low band (0% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2025) is short of the level that counts.
How is Bright’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Bright grades C for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is radon a problem in Bright?
The area’s survey found 17% of 112 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Bright.
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).