Photo: Skaarup.HA · CC BY-SA 4.017% of homes tested in Chipman’s area are above the radon guideline
Burn scars are few around Chipman, with 0.2% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.004% a year). Seismic risk in Chipman sits near the middle: $0.042 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Chipman grades C− for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Chipman’s hazards
For Chipman, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Chipman faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Chipman: C−
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Chipman with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
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 Chipman: 0% within 5 km, 0.2% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Chipman’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
With 0.004% burned a year, Chipman is among the many low-band places (the typical Canadian town 0.000%).
Fire has stayed at least 13 km from Chipman’s homes since 1986.
Forest fuel covers 80% of the land close to Chipman and 89% across 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 61
Chipman sits mid-table in New Brunswick: 25th of 61 towns, at 0.004% 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.
Some fire is mapped around Chipman, but not enough to leave the low band, where 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are; 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 Chipman (1 study)
Flood studies whose area touches Chipman, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Service New Brunswick - GeoNB holds the flood mapping that covers Chipman (2020), linked below.
| 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
Mapping in New Brunswick reaches 93% of towns, Chipman included, beside 58% across Canada.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Chipman floods.
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 Chipman: $0.042 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.
With $0.042 of shaking damage a year per $1,000, Chipman is about even with the typical $0.030 (1.4 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Typical for its province: Chipman at $0.042 beside a median in New Brunswick of $0.036, with St. Stephen on top 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.
Chipman’s earthquake risk lands near the centre of Canada’s range; 43% of the 2,611 towns are higher.
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 Chipman 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).
17% of homes tested around Chipman are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
A higher share than most: 17% of tested homes around Chipman, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Chipman’s area, at 17%, is close to the median in New Brunswick (20%); 7.1% of its tests passed 600 Bq/m³.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Chipman is in the 10–20% band, with 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; only 4.6% are 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.
Radon varies from house to house in Chipman, 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). · Not measured by town: radon tests (the Region 3 health region)
Where to get warnings in Chipman
Alerts for Chipman 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 Chipman 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 Chipman’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chipman | Low | $0.042 | 17% | Yes |
| Minto 2,349 · 18 km | Low | $0.037 | 17% | Yes |
Minto (low) has the heaviest fire record of Chipman’s neighbours, and Chipman (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Chipman faces
What to do about the hazards Chipman 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
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Chipman’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 Chipman until then.
- 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 Chipman.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Chipman without grading them.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Chipman
How is Chipman’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Chipman’s Hazard risk grade is C−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is Chipman at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0.2% of the land around Chipman since 1986 (last in 2025); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Chipman?
Expected earthquake damage in Chipman comes to $0.042 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is radon a problem in Chipman?
Around Chipman, 112 survey homes were tested and 17% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Does Chipman flood?
A flood study covers Chipman on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
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).